A Shropshire family who already have more than 30 pets have welcomed an unusual new addition after finding a stowaway lizard in their broccoli.

Paula Walsh and her partner Jez Allen were shocked to discover the four-inch gecko inside the vegetable while preparing food in the kitchen of their home in Wilderley Crescent, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury.

Network Rail technician Mr Allen, 50, said they  tried to find someone to take on the creature but had decided to keep it as a pet for themselves and their daughters Sarah Amos, 25, and Jasmin Allen, six.

The lizard will join the 15 guinea pigs, 16 budgies, Yorkshire Terrier dog and an aquarium of fish.

Mr Allen said it had been named Tenko after the 80s television show about a Japanese prisoner of war camp for women – in reference to the suffering the gecko had experienced.

Ms Walsh, 45, said she and daughter Sarah saw the liza- rd in broccoli from Tesco wh- ile preparing lunch on Friday. “Sarah was cutting the broccoli up and said there was something crawling in it and there was a little leg sticking out and it had little foot pads on it,” she said.“It frightened her, we could have cut it in half.”

Mr Allen, said Tenko was recovering, having thought to have started his journey in Spain before being shut in a refrigerator for two days.

He said: “We have only just come back from Fuerte- ventura and all my mates from work have been saying I have been smuggling animals into the country.”

Asked if the family plann- ed to buy a companion for Tenko, Mr Allen said: “No, I don’t think so. We don’t want them mating like the guinea pigs.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We are glad that Tenko has found a good home after what must have been quite a journey and something of an ordeal.”

By Russell Roberts and Rebecca Lawrence