A teenage boy found an escaped WALLABY on his way home from school - and has befriended it with apples.

The runaway creature fled from nearby woodland and has been filmed having a wild time bounding along a country lane at 30mph.

It has also now struck up an unlikely friendship with Finley Redford, 16, who lives near the hedge where it has made its home in Horsham, Sussex.

Finley has been slicing up apples and serving them on a bed of hay after researching the right diet to serve.

And he said he has been able to get progressively closer over the days since it was first seen on Tuesday April 19.

Finley contacted Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens, a country house and woodland in Horsham, who said they were missing a wallaby and would need a specialist team to bring him back.

He said: "It’s such an awesome experience just seeing one through the hedges.

“I didn’t think it was a wallaby at first and it took me a while to work it out.

“I called my parents to come down and take a look.

“Since then I have seen it on many occasions bouncing around the streets.

"I slice up two apples every day and put them about three metres from him, just outside his hedge, and he eats them."