Primary school pupils helped return stolen items to their owners after a litter pick in the playing fields.

During Malborough and South Huish Primary school’s Eco Week, a planned trip to pick up plastic litter on the beach was postponed because of the weather, and the pupils instead decided to carry out a litter collection at the playing fields instead. It was then that they made their discovery.

Higher level teaching assistant Jo Acourt, known to the children as Mrs A, was with a group of children picking up litter around the edge of the playing fields.

“The children were finding lots of litter and picking it up”, Mrs A explained, “and then they started coming across items that were obviously not rubbish. We kept it separate from the litter that we collected and brought it back to the school.”

The pupils had found a car stereo, two pairs of expensive prescription sunglasses, keys to KM United’s football pavilion and a screwdriver and wire cutters.

“We contacted the police on 101 and they came to pick up the items” Mrs A continued. “They called later to tell us that the items found were stolen. The owners have now been reunited with their possessions.”

PC Jo Pengilly and PCSO Paul O’Dwyer came back to the school to thank the pupils and let them know that the items they found had been returned.