An NHS boss on £140,000-a-year is being held to ransom by dognappers who stole her beloved puppy from her back garden.

The crooks have demanded £2,000 from Kim Hodgson, the Chief Executive of East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, after stealing her rare Weimaraner-cross puppy, called Blue.

They snatched the bitch, worth £700, from her garden.

Miss Hodgson, 39, has received 17 text messages from the dognappers threatening to kill the eight-month old animal after she was stolen three weeks ago.

The dog lover, who is in charge of Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, has slammed the police investigation into the theft for not progressing quickly enough.

The 39-year-old, who was given the top job at East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust in October last year, said: "When I phoned the police they didn't take it that seriously. They said it's just a dog' to my face. She's not just a dog to me.

"I told them about the text messages and gave them the phone number but they said it takes a while to trace. That was ten days ago and nothing has come through.

"If it was a child I am sure they would trace it quicker than this. I even had to demand they give me a crime reference number so that it is recorded.

"Animals are part of my family and a big part of my life. I don't know if the thieves will carry out their threat. I am extremely anxious.

"The text messages have made me sick with worry. I love Blue and just want her back."

Miss Hodgson, who lives in the expensive village of Hodsoll Street, near Sevenoaks, Kent, revealed the dognappers have threatened to steal her other three dogs from her secluded £750,000 farm.

After Blue was taken on October 9 the distraught owner spent hours searching fields and woods nearby.

When she could not find Blue she called the police and dog wardens to register her missing.

She then contacted road cleaning services, vets and rescue centres throughout the South East to keep an eye out for Blue.

Miss Hodgson makes more than 50 calls every day to see if there is any news of her and goes out daily to put up wanted posters.

"I have put up 700 posters in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex," she said. "I go out every day to put up more."

But the callous dognappers got her mobile number from the posters and used them to demand a ransom for Blue.

Miss Hodgson said: "I started getting texts a few days after the posters went up.

"They started by saying they thought they had found my dog and asking what the reward was.

"I did not tell them what the reward was and asked them to describe Blue."

She added: "They would not give me any details and then started asking for £2,000.

"I kept asking them to describe Blue and specific markings on her so I knew they had her.

"They kept saying they would phone me at 11pm at night, but then would not call.

"I believe that was to up the ante and keep me stressed. They wanted to control the situation, then the texts started getting more threatening."

The NHS boss said: "Some of the text messages demanded £2,000 or they would hurt my dog and just send back her collar."

Another of the 17 chilling texts said: "Once upon a time there was four little doggies, then there was three, then two."

Miss Hodgson wanted to be convinced that the texts were coming from the dognappers and that they still had Blue before agreeing to pay the ransom.

She said: "I am extremely anxious, the text messages have made me sick with worry.

"In some ways if Blue was dead it would be better, that's because I would have closure. At the moment I worry she is being abused or lying injured somewhere."

Blue has been logged on to DogLost, a website which tries to reunite stolen animals with their owners.

Jayne Harris, who runs the website, said: "We are hearing of hundreds of dognapping cases every week."

A Kent Police spokeswoman said they are treating Blue's disappearance as theft and treating it seriously.

The spokeswoman said of Miss Hodgson's criticism: "She has been kept fully informed all along.

"She has been in close contact with the police during this investigation.

"This is the first I have heard of any criticism from her."

Police have said dognapping is the fastest growing crime in Britain, with organised gangs able to make large amounts of money with little risk of prosecution as the crime is hard to prove.

Weimaraner are powerful hunting dogs first brought to Britain from Germany by an Army officer in 1952.

Brian Milligan, dog warden for Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council, said in the South East more than 100 dogs go missing a week, many are presumed stolen.

He said: "There are some sick people out there who find this funny."

Anyone who thinks they may have seen Blue is asked to contact Dog Lost on 01302 743361.