A GOOD Samaritan grandmother has helped reunite a Bolton family with their missing Christmas presents.

Valerie Walker turned to the BEN for help after she was landed with three gifts, mistakenly addressed to her house but not for her.

She began her hunt for the parcels' rightful owner after Post Office bosses told her they could not help, as the wrongly labelled gifts would simply be re-delivered to her house.

Mrs Walker, of Thorns Road, Astley Bridge, was told to open the parcel, addressed to Miss Karen Goad, to see if there were any invoices inside which would lead to the real recipient.

But instead the puzzled woman found three Christmas presents, one marked for Karen and two more for her children.

Despite a search through phone books and questioning neighbours Mrs Walker still couldn't track Miss Goad down - until the BEN gave her a helping hand! After we printed an appeal for Miss Goad to get in contact, the relieved mum-of-two finally rang to claim the presents which belonged to her.

Mrs Walker said: "They had been sent from her father who lives in Leicester but he had put the wrong address on by mistake. His daughter lives in Thornbank in Deane.

"We had quite a few calls from people who read the article in the BEN and who knew where Karen lived.

"She has a little girl and a little boy so we're just pleased that the children have got their presents on time."

And Mrs Walker ensured that the gifts were given to the real owners with a simple test about a second name which appeared on gift tags.

She was presented with a bouquet of flowers by a grateful Karen, who called to collect her presents on Monday night, and she also received a telphone call of thanks from Karen's father.

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