A giant sturgeon that has massively outgrown its environment over a quarter of a century has been given a new lease of life by its owners.

The fish – called Stanley - was put into an  11ft by 10ft garden pond 25 years ago by the Parker family when he was only six inches long.

But his owners Daniel and Jennie Parker and their son Tristan were forced to call in specialists to remove him after he grew to a massive five feet and eight inches long.

They called in fish expert Steve Aldridge, the owner of Gloucester Koi Rescue, to catch the overgrown Diamond Back Sturgeon from the pond at their home in Bradford on Avon.

Steve Aldridge, from Gloucester Koi Rescue, and his neighbour Mark Adlan begin the attempt to catch the giant Diamond Back Sturgeon at the Parker family's garden pond in Bradford on Avon.Steve Aldridge, from Gloucester Koi Rescue, and his neighbour Mark Adlan begin the attempt to catch the giant Diamond Back Sturgeon at the Parker family's garden pond in Bradford on Avon. (Image: Trevor Porter)

Mr Aldridge, 51, said: “Stanley is the biggest sturgeon I have ever had to rescue.

“The owners were under the impression he was about three to four feet long but he was much bigger than that.

“We didn’t have a big enough box to transport him in and I had to hand-build one to store him in for the journey.

“We had to stop four times on the journey to make sure he was okay.”

Steve Aldridge soothes the Diamond Back Sturgeon brought out from a garden pond Bradford on Avon. Steve Aldridge soothes the Diamond Back Sturgeon brought out from a garden pond Bradford on Avon. (Image: Trevor Porter)

Stanley was moved to a pond at a private manor house at Gretton near Winchcombe and has been given a new lease of life in a much larger pond at least four times as big.

Tristan Parker, 44, said: "I think mum and I paid half each when we bought Stanley for about £50 25 years ago.

"He was only about six inches long then and we fed him loads and he just kept getting bigger and bigger.

"But now he has moved from a bedsit to a mansion."

Jennie Parker, said: "We are missing Stanley already. We talk about him all the time. 

"When he was smaller he used to eat food from Tristan's hand but he hasn't done that for quite a while.

"It wasn't fair to keep him in our pond as it was too small and we managed to find the Gloucester Koi Rescue.

"They came to take a look at him a couple of weeks ago and said he was too big for them to handle, so they had to go away and build a box big enough to transport him."

Sturgeons evolved millions of years ago with the dinosaurs but this species is now almost extinct in Britain and critically endangered in Europe.