HE THOUGHT he would never see his bike again, but thanks to a Press reader a distraught nine-year-old boy has been reunited with the stolen cycle he called his pride and joy.

Jack Ward was heartbroken when thieves made off with his white BMX last week, after it was left in bike sheds at Lakeside Primary School, Clifton Moor. He had raised the money to buy the bicycle by selling his old toys.

Touched by his plight, The Press launched an appeal for information for the safe return of the bike. The search had an added urgency for Jack, who had been looking forward to joining his friends on the second session of a six-week cycling course.

Jane Ward, Jack’s mother, said: “The police had a phone call from a lady who said she had seen it abandoned down an alleyway in the Clifton area.

“I think whoever took it had just dumped it when they saw it in The Press.”

With only hours to spare, Mrs Ward hurried to her son’s school with the bike so that he could continue with the course.

Jack said: “I thought I was never going to see it again, but I got it back just in time to do the cycling course.”

His mother said he was “chuffed to bits” to have it back and they had now invested in a good lock to make sure it never happens again.

Jack said: “I am always going to keep it locked up now, even if I have to keep three padlocks with it.”