Wicken: Daughter's shock as thieves return stolen ashes of mum

Sophie Edmondson said her mum Hannah (right) would be "furious" with the theft at Wicken, which is between Milton Keynes and Buckingham

A daughter is "beaming" after an urn holding the ashes of her mother was returned by thieves.

Sophie Edmondson said the urn was taken from a building on her farm in the village of Wicken, Northamptonshire, on 29 October.

Police believed two men with a white van broke into the property and took jewellery and other sentimental items.

The family discovered the missing container under some scaffolding while inspecting the farm on Monday morning.

Ms Edmondson said: "I'm literally beaming from ear to ear, I honestly wasn't holding out any hope.

"I didn't really expect it to come back, if I'm truthful, but [I] was always hopeful that it might."

Sophie Edmondson said she cleaned the returned urn as it had a smell of bleach

The carved wooden urn, designed by Hannah Aquarone before she died with cancer in 2017, aged 65, was returned intact with her ashes inside.

Describing the condition of the urn, Ms Edmondson said: "It smelt of bleach, they've obviously tried to get rid of any evidence on it."

She said it was likely that the media coverage of the stolen urn somehow convinced the thieves to return the item.

"They've still got all my jewellery from her, handwritten notes and voice on a USB stick but if I had to pick I would go for the ashes," she said.

Ms Edmondson thanked everybody who shared the story on social media and added: "My face hurts from smiling so much, it really does.

"I didn't think it would happen, I really didn't think it would happen."

She said the family now plan to scatter her mother's ashes "among the bluebells" in her home county of Norfolk next spring.