But last weekend, to the astonishment of Reece Buckland and his parents, it was returned.

Reece's dad Steve said: "We'd given up hope of him seeing it again. But on Saturday while we were all out, someone came and handed it over to one of our neighbours, who brought it round when we got home. It was a real shock."

In the Guardian on October 24 we reported how Reece had left his Nintendo DS and several games in the back of a Hackney carriage which took him and his mum and dad from Batley to his home in Shirley Avenue late on Saturday October 4.

It wasn't until the next morning they realised what had happened and contacted taxi firms to see if anyone had found it. Three weeks on they had still heard nothing.

"We just assumed someone had found it and taken it and that was that," said Steve. "Reece was gutted. But it looks like someone saw the story in the paper and that's why he got it back.

"None of this would have been possible without the Spenborough Guardian and we can't thank them enough.

"We're not sure who handed it in but Reece is just made up."