AN ORFORD family have thanked a Cheshire Police officer after he recovered a six-year-old’s Christmas present lost on Christmas Day.

Keeley Eacret, aged 26, of Mardale Avenue, said son Harlan was devastated when the Nintendo DS was dropped as the family returned home from visiting grandparents.

On Boxing Day it was being advertised for sale on Facebook.

PC Jamie Blyth tracked down the culprit and returned the console to Harlan, although he did not tell the toddler he had found it.

“I asked Harlan if he wanted to see a magic trick,” said PC Blyth, of Warrington Central NPU.

“I said if you peep the magic trick won’t work.

“I said keep your eyes closed and put your hands out and then popped it into his hands.

“His mum burst into tears and he was in delirium he had got the console back.”

Mum-of-two Keeley said: “For the police to do something as little as that you just think you’d be wasting their time and it would be impossible to find.

“The police were brilliant and we want to thank them for putting the Christmas smile back on my son’s face as he was heartbroken at the thought of never seeing his DS again.

“They have also restored faith to people who have ever had anything lost or stolen, that the police can and will do whatever they can to get it back.”

PC Blyth told of how he recovered the treasured present.

He said: “It was picked up and not returned as it should be.

“The finder used a social networking site and as a result I was able to identify them.

“It was established they had no previous convictions and the suspect agreed to return the items and retrieve the games he had sold on.

“He was full of remorse when pointed out it was a six-year-old’s Christmas present.

“He fully admitted what he had done was wrong and came with me to retrieve the games.

“The use of restorative justice was entirely the right course of action.”