Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Christmas saved after family’s stolen presents spotted online
ADAD was shocked to find his children’s stolen Christmas presents – on Facebook. David Jones, 51, was left devastated when the gifts were stolen from the boot of his car earlier this month.
He thought he’d never see them again and had started to buy more – until a colleague contacted him.
They showed head chef David, from Bristol, pictures of the gifts on a social media post put up by police – who were trying to find the owners.
David immediately contacted Avon and Somerset police.
And the force is now hoping to reunite the presents and their rightful owners today
David, dad to Jess, 15, and Oli, 11, said: “I just couldn’t bring myself to tell the kids until it all came out yesterday.
“I was so taken aback when they were found – it’s just amazing and I’m grateful to everyone who’s helped get them back.”
David had been to see family in Longwell Green, South Gloucestershire, on December 12 and picked up presents for his children while he was there.
With plans to go to his partner’s house the next day, he decided to leave the presents in the car overnight.
But on the morning of December 13, he was shocked to discover the boot was empty – and the glove compartment of the car had been raided.
So as not to upset his two children, after putting in a report to the police, he kept the missing presents a secret and hoped to buy new gifts before anyone realised.
He said: “I thought all the presents
were gone – I didn’t know what to do.
“My sister went and bought some more presents for the kids, I was going to try and buy everyone else’s gifts again but we don’t need to do that now.”
David was stunned when a coworker sent him a post from an Avon amd Somerset police Facebook page showing the stolen gifts.
His colleague had spotted the names on the name tags and realised they matched – and when David
saw the pictures, he recognised the handwriting and names of his sisters.
He contacted the police who then reached out to sister Debbie Stevens, who confirmed what was in the parcels. And now police plan to reunite David with the presents just in time for Christmas Day.
Debbie said: “We couldn’t leave them without any presents so we went out and bought more – some presents we bought again but we also bought different ones too.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was told but then we found the Facebook post.
“It’s such an amazing story and I’m so grateful they’ve been found.”
Police said presents were found in a car which was reported stolen from an address in the Redfield area of Bristol at 10.25am on December 13.
Forty minutes after receiving the report, officers located the vehicle being driven in the Stokes Croft area.
They stopped it and arrested a man and a woman on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle. They remain on police bail while further enquiries are carried out.
Inspector Matt Boiles said: “We’re so pleased to be able to return these stolen Christmas presents.”