RIO, the howling Burmese stud cat at the centre of a village row, is to be banished to Yorkshire.

The £900 champion cat, whose wailing sparked complaints from neighbours in Manaton, is to be rehomed on loan later this month.

Rio's angry owner John Beale has revealed he and his wife are now selling their home, claiming they are being hounded out of the village because of the ongoing row over the cat's whining.

Mr Beale, who has bred Burmese cats for 24 years, made a complaint to Teignbridge Council over comments made in the parish magazine, the Manaton Messenger, which he believed implied Rio was being mistreated.

Teignbridge Council's standards committee cleared parish council chairman Cllr Julian Tope, who wrote the article, of any wrong doing.

But Mr Beale is not satisfied with the decision and said he felt he hasn't been treated 'fairly'.