VIDEO: Retired Northampton police officer reunited with his stolen service medal after it was pulled out of River Nene

A heartwarming video shows the moment a retired Northampton police officer was reunited with his exemplary service medal after it was pulled out a river a year after it was stolen.

Geoffrey Barron, 82, was devastated when burglars ransacked his home and took his treasured medal which had been awarded to him when he retired in 1994.

The pensioner, who joined Northamptonshire Police in 1962 and served for 32 years, believed the sentimental keepsake was lost forever following the raid last December.

But now, Geoffrey and his wife Maureen, 72, are “over the moon2 after being reunited with the medal following the “one in a million” discovery.

It was found by magnet fisher and environmentalist Dave Jordan, 45, during a trip scouring for treasures in the River Nene near Westbridge Garage two weeks ago.

Dave, from Far Cotton, organises river litter-picking days and has a large number of Youtube followers and was joined by one of his fans Ryan Davenport, 17, and his dad.

The trio had only been searching the river for just 30 minutes before Ryan fished out a blue metal box.

Inside was a medal which was engraved with Geoffrey’s name and police number which Dave used to track the pensioner down online.

After contacting the grandfather-of-six, Ryan has now been able to reunite the long lost medal with Geoffrey who has Alzheimer’s disease.

Moving footage captured the moment the teenager handed over the medal back to its rightful owner on Saturday (November 5).

An emotional Geoffrey, a dad-of-five, of Kingsthorpe, can be seen saying: "Words fail me, I never thought I would see it again. It feels wonderful to get this back.

"It hit me hard at the time but I'm so pleased to get it back."

Maureen added they were both “over the moon” and she believes Ryan finding the medal was just “meant to be”.

She said: "I'm just over the moon to be honest.

"It's just wonderful what these people do to clear the rubbish away and clear the rivers and to find this - it's just one in a million chance.

"I do think that I'm going to have to change the ribbons as they are not too good, so I'm going to go somewhere and get them renewed.

"Then the medal is going to be back by Geoffrey's side so he can keep looking at it and remembering it.

"My children just can't believe it's been found either, it's just unbelievable and meant to be.

"My husband has Alzheimer's and doesn't remember everything, but that medal to say he served for 32 years, he does remember.

"Geoffrey was so upset when it went and it took him a few weeks but he kept remembering about it now and again.

"He kept saying that he had lost his medal so now we've got it back, it's just wonderful."

Recalling the moment the medal was found, magnet fisher Dave said: “It really was like finding a needle in a haystack.

“When I told Geoffrey’s wife we had found the medal over the phone, apparently his face lit up.

“That means everything to me. They thought they would never see the medal again.”