A HERO has been reunited with his stolen war medals following a successful plea by the Epping Forest Guardian.

Ashley Webb and his mother, Jacqui, were featured in our September 18 edition appealing to readers after Ashley's medals and uniform were stolen from a car after he returned from duty in Afghanistan to his home in Chigwell.

The heartless thief took Ashley's dress uniform, his Northern Ireland Service medal and his Iraq service medal.

Speaking at the time Ashley, 23, who had returned from a six-month tour of duty with RAF 3 Squadron in Kandahar said: "I'm so angry, they don't have any real value to anyone else, but they're irreplaceable to me."

His mother Jacqui, 49, said she felt her son’s homecoming "had been ruined".

But luckily, a week after the article was published, an eagle-eyed walker spotted some children in Abridge playing with what looked like medals and took them from the boys, who had innocently found them in a hedgerow.

The woman handed them over to Alan Richard, a member of the Abridge branch of the Royal British Legion, who had remembered reading the Guardian article.

Mr Richard, 49, served in Northern Ireland from 1980 to 1984 and immediately recognised the sentimental value of the medals.

He said: "I knew someone would be missing them, you literally put your life on the line and these medals hold a lot of significance to the person they belong to."

He contacted the police and a community officer called the next day to pick them up.

Describing the moment he was reunited with his cherished medals, Ashley said: "There was a knock on the door at 11.30pm and there were police there - I was worried at first because it was so late I thought there was something wrong but he had a massive smile on his face and he told me he had some good news.

"When the policeman handed them to me I was just so pleased - I couldn't say anything because I had such a big smile on my face. I'm so grateful, if it wasn't for your story I might not have got them back."

He thanked Mr Richards saying: "There's not many good people in the world but it’s nice to see there are still some, I'm just grateful beyond words to him."

Mr Richards denied he was a hero, saying: "I'm just glad they were returned to their rightful owner."

“The real heroes are these young lads who go out and lay their lives on the line, just like the young men in previous wars have done, hopefully people will remember their bravery too in this year’s upcoming poppy campaign which helps veterans of all wars."

Mrs Webb said she was "over the moon" and thanked the Guardianp.

She said: "They're a bit scratched but we're so pleased to have them back, i'm just so grateful to the gentleman that handed them in, and to the Guardian for highlighting the story.

“When we got them back it was just like a dream come true, I'd prayed for them to come back."