Westhoughton postman turns detective to return missing iPod to 10-year-old girl

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A KIND-HEARTED postman turned detective and reunited a lost iPod with its grateful young owner.

Rob Smith stumbled upon the device near Sandy Lane, Westhoughton, while on his usual rounds.

By using the pictures stored on the £130 iPod and searching names on Facebook, the Leigh Road resident he was able to identify the owner and return it to young Ava Parr, who happened to live nearby in Parkway.

Ava’s mother Debra said: “She was so relieved and we were both just gobsmacked. She was absolutely over the moon.

“Somebody could have picked it up and just sold it. It’s just so lovely in this day and age that someone would do this.

“We sent a letter to his employers and let them know how he went above and beyond the call of duty. He just seems like such a nice person.

“Ava was devastated, she was nearly in tears. She had her favourite music on there and photographs.

“The pictures included some of her when she was a baby and all of her birthdays. She nearly burst into tears and thought she was in trouble with me for losing it.”

Ava thinks she must have dropped the iPod close to St Bartholomew’s School when she got out of the car one day.

After finding it on the road, Mr Smith, aged 33, of Leigh Road, Westhoughton, looked through the pictures on the device.

He found a picture of a man pointing at the name A.Wroth on a plaque. The man turned out to be Ava’s grandad Arthur Wroth.

Using the name Wroth, Mr Smith searched on Facebook and found Alison Wroth, Ava’s aunt, and a picture on her profile that matched the one on the iPod.

Mrs Wroth then put Mr Smith in touch with Mrs Parr, who took her daughter to see him, laden with chocolates and a thank you card with some cash.

Mr Smith said: “It never crossed my mind to sell it or keep it. I just thought about getting it back to the owner.

“It was a great feeling seeing the little girl’s face. It was brilliant. She had a big smile – and a bag of chocolates for me.

“I was just as made up as she was. I don’t think she was expecting to see it again.”

And it was a particularly touching moment for Mr Smith as the money Ava included with the card was her own savings which she collected from walking her grandmother’s dog.

The timing could not have come better for the mother and daughter as the family, along with father Nick and Ava’s older brother George, 12, jetted off on holiday to Barbados shortly afterwards to celebrate Mrs Parr’s 50th birthday.