Stolen medals found after 14 years

A medal won by a private in the Boer War has been returned to his granddaughter, 14 years after it was stolen from her home.

The South Africa Campaign Medal (1899-1902) was recovered by Operation Bumblebee officers in a pounds 100,000 raid on pawnshop in Lewisham, south-east London. Now Private Samuel Tippett's medal has been given back to his granddaughter, Julie Barnshaw, 57, who owns a pub in Islington, north London.

Also returned were her grandfather's gold-coloured Christmas 1914 tobacco tin, a letter of condolence from George V on his death in the First World War, and a Territorial Campaign medal for Efficient Service given to her father James. Mrs Barnshaw said the medals and memorabilia were among items stolen by burglars from her home in Catford, south-east London, in 1983. "This really brings back how brave they were," she said.