A DETERMINED Horwich mum turned detective to track down her daughter's stolen Gameboy.

Tanya Elliott, aged nine, was distraught when thieves took the electronic toy she had received as a birthday gift from her Hilton Avenue home.

Mum Jane Elliott had all but given up hope of ever seeing the £175 Nintendo Gameboy and games again.

But, as a last-ditch measure, she delivered leaflets to local homes pleading for its return.

And no one was more amazed than Mrs Elliott when the next evening two young boys turned up saying they had been asked to return it on somebody else's behalf.

She said: "The flyers obviously did the trick. To be honest we thought we could kiss the Gameboy goodbye but we knew we had to try something.

"The main reason we delivered the leaflets was just to pacify Tanya and convince her we were doing something.

"Tanya was desperately upset. She'd had her heart set on a Gameboy for months. I've never heard her cry so much and I was crying with her. I felt sick all day. I'm just so glad there was a happy ending.

"It's not as if we could have afforded another one. We had to club together to be able to afford the package in the first place.

"Tanya is so pleased to get it back she's taken it up to her room and hidden it!"

The Gameboy was taken last week after Tanya's younger brother Thomas, six, had left it on the stairs of their home.

It is unclear whether the door was open or if thieves forced their way in.

Mrs Elliott was decorating the conservatory at the back of the house when the theft happened.

"I didn't hear anything," she said.