NEWTON'S very own boy wonder, nine-year-old Kristian Howarth, this week came face to face with the owners of the gutted house he tried to save.

Last week, the Newton Guardian exclusively told how quick-thinking Kristian wasted no time in alerting the emergency services when he saw flames ravaging a nearby house.

Sue Tickle and her son Gareth, who weren't in the house at the time of the blaze, contacted the Guardian on Friday to say thank you for identifying the real hero.

We arranged for them to meet with Kristian so they could thank him personally.

And to show just how grateful they were, Sue and Gareth presented Kristian with £50 of vouchers for Toys R Us.

Sue said: "We've moved out of our house this week, it's pretty badly damaged and we can't live there at the moment but it could have been so much worse if Kristian hadn't spotted it and called the fire brigade when he did. We are so grateful.

"We had heard lots of different stories about who had alerted the fire brigade, but it wasn't until we bought the Guardian that we discovered the real story."

Kristian's mum Gemma said: "I'm not at all surprised that he did something like this, he's very observant and mature for his years.

"We're all so proud of him, family and friends haven't stopped calling since they saw the paper. Everywhere we go people are congratulating him and even giving him money."