I can't believe my eyes! Meet the giant pet tortoise who turns heads when he goes for a walk on Morecambe beach

Jackie Lee, 58, who suffers from myeloma and has had breast cancer, owns a very special African sulcata tortoise she has named Mr Miyagi.

Jackie and her partner Ian Sephton have a caravan in a Morecambe holiday park which they stay in from Sunday to Wednesday and Mr Miyagi always comes with them.

The rest of the week they live in Warrington.

Jackie said: “When we bought him he was called Arthur Pendragon but we named him Mr Miyagi, I don’t know why!

"Four years ago I got cancer and was very ill with my treatment, I would be getting up in the middle of the night and crying.

"I said to Ian my partner I needed just something I could cuddle in the middle of the night to comfort me.

"We went to the local pet shop and saw these tortoises, one ran across with a piece of lettuce and I said ‘I want that one’ , the pet shop owner said ‘you don’t because it’s a giant tortoise and he is going to weigh 10 stone’.

"We got him and called him Thor. I bought him a pram to go in. We had Thor for three years all through my treatment.”

The couple decided they needed some work doing in the garden of their bungalow in Warrington. Thor decided to eat 30 stones from the garden and needed emergency surgery but sadly they lost him.

"The zoologist said ‘you need to replace him, not as a baby, but you need to replace Thor’,” said Jackie.

"We went on a preloved pets site and found Mr Miyagi as we called him.

"We travelled to Kendal to pick him up. He wasn’t mistreated, he just wasn’t loved.

"We paid £560 for him. We brought him home and he was smelly and stinky, but the zoologist said to bring him in to check him over, he probably just needed love.

"He is eight-years-old now. We’ve had him for one and a half years and he has put on over a stone. He is like a dog, he follows me round.”

Life revolves around tortoise

Jackie said her life revolves around Mr Miyagi and when her and Ian take him out in Morecambe or Warrington, people are always stopping and admiring him, some even want to buy him.

"Every morning he has a bath and he stands at the side of the bath waiting to get in,” she said.

"It does me good to come to Morecambe. Mr Miyagi is famous around the holiday park and Morecambe now.

"He goes outside in the garden at the holiday park and people leave cabbages and lettuce for him.

"We take him to the beach at Heysham for a walk and people crowd round us admiring him.

"He is massive! He was just over three stone at his last check-up but he is on track to reach 10 stone when he is fully grown.

"He has a special crate in the back of my car that he travels in and I have a special wagon that he goes in when I take him to the beach.

"He climbs up on the rocks and goes out to the sea.

"He is like a dog and affectionate as well. I think he knows I’m poorly because he sits at my feet all the time and cuddles.

"I have a two-year-old granddaughter and he has never bitten or hissed at her. He is amazing.”

Third largest in the world

Mr Miyagi is an African sulcata tortoise which is the third largest tortoise in the world.

He eats lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage and can have the odd strawberry. He loves Savoy cabbage and broccoli but his favourite is green beans.

"He destroys my house, said Jackie. “It looks like we have been burgled sometimes!

"He pulls himself up on the furniture and rearranges everything.

"He is quite powerful. I can honestly say he has never bitten, hissed or rammed me or anyone else. He is just unreal and he is amazing.”

Jackie said Mr Miyagi occasionally walks around Venture caravan park with her but because he is so big he has to be brought back to the caravan on a tractor.

Jackie said: "He can walk for 10 minutes or two hours, depending on the day, and my partner has bought me a little wagon for him because I can’t pick him up.

"Mr Miyagi is my therapy pet and he keeps me going.”

At home in Warrington Mr Miyagi has his own little spot under the stairs where he goes to sleep.

Jackie said: “He has heat lamps in there and he takes himself to bed at 5pm on the dot and doesn’t get up until 8am the following morning.

"After his bath in the morning, he goes in the garden. He doesn’t live outside.

"In the caravan in Morecambe under the window he has heat lamps and sleeps in a dog bed.

"My partner Ian Sephton who is 67 and retired, adores him. I never thought Ian would have taken to him like he has.

"He has to lift him now as I have had breast cancer and can’t lift him.

"He is very good, he has completely changed our world.”

Planning for his future

Jackie has made plans for Mr Miyagi’s future, and has put aside a lump sum of money so wherever he goes he will have his care paid for.

She have two daughters and Ian has two sons, so she’s hoping one of the children can take him.

"It’s £30 a week on his vegetables, and heat lamps are expensive, but he has that money for him in the future,” added Jackie.

"I never want him to want for anything. He has the best vets, he wants for nothing.

"Mr Miyagi has a zoologist at Rutland House in Southport and she is amazing. That is who I deal with for Mr Miyagi’s care.

"In captivity sulcata tortoises can live for up to 120 years, 150 years in the wild. He is getting far bigger than we thought. He is currently 2ft long and 1ft wide and weighs 3 stone 2lbs.

"He could grow up to 3 feet long and weigh 10 stone.

"People who stop now when they see him do more than a double take!

"He is my world! Everyone is fascinated with him and I’m so glad.”