The Repair Shop viewers learnt the tragic tale of rescue dog Pepper who helped search for survivors in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing disaster.
The Repair Shop guest recalled the heartbreaking death of his beloved rescue dog(Image: BBC)
The Repair Shop viewers saw one man share the touching story of his late border collie rescue dog, Pepper.
During the BBC show, which first broadcast last year, experts Dominic Chinea and Suzie Fletcher spoke to a man called Neil Powell.
The man had an old dog collar and a tattered rescue jacket with him, keen to get it restored in tribute to ‘one of the best’ dogs he’d had.
Explaining more about Pepper, The Repair Shop guest shared that he qualified to become a search and rescue at 18 months and was involved with helping to find a young German boy who was missing in bad weather conditions for 36 hours.
However, one of the more poignant searches Neil and Pepper were involved with was the 1988 Lockerbie Pan Am disaster, where they were called in to try and find survivors, reports the Daily Record.
Recalling the ‘dreadful’ smell of the aviation fuel, Neil highlighted that Pepper had discovered a suitcase during their time there, which was significant as it had scorch marks on, suggesting that the plane crash had been a bomb.
During the horrific tragedy, 270 perished in the Lockerbie bombing, amongst them 11 residents of the Scottish town.
Sadly, Pepper, along with the other dogs involved, developed tumours in their noses and windpipes while in the crater searching for human remains.
Admitting they weren’t sure it was caused by the aviation fuel, Neil confessed to being heartbroken over Pepper’s death, adding, ‘it was really awful.”
While Dom issued an apology over the loss of his cherished companion as Neil emphasised how significant the jacket was to him that he wore during mountain rescues.
One touching moment during the restoration saw textile conservator Rebecca Bissonnet make an unexpected discovery, Pepper’s name on the jacket, which had been hidden for years.
Calling her find ‘really moving’, Rebecca recreted her name to make it a permanent fixture on the jacket.
Ultimately, the duo succeeded in restoring both the jacket and the collar as they mounted it to a wooden board.
When Neil returned to the barn to witness the final result, he became visibly emotional as he fought back tears, calling it ‘perfect’ before praising the ‘talented people’ in the barn.
Spotting Peppers’s name, he confessed to being ‘overwhelmed’ by the sweet gesture before sharing that the display would go up at the base of their Mountain Rescue Centre.
The Repair Shop is available to watch on BBC iPlayer