Singing pensioner delighted at return of lamppost

Singing pensioner John Neill can perform a version of the George Formby classic Leaning On A Lamppost if he feels like it - thanks to a police operation. The elder half of 2Grand, the duo from Rossington, South Yorkshire who achieved national fame as finalists in top-rated TV show Britain’s Got Talent, is smiling again after his ornamental lamppost was tracked down during a Doncaster police crime crackdown. It had been stolen from the garden of his home a few weeks earlier and John was not expecting ever to see it again.

But it has been returned safely after a search warrant was executed at a property in Rossington. Officers from Rossington Safer Neighbourhood Team have executed a number of warrants in the area as part of the multi-agency project Neighbourhood Alliance, which is currently in the village until the end of this week. One of the warrants resulted in the recovery of a variety of stolen items, one being a black iron-effect, ornamental lamppost, which was placed in the police property store in case it was claimed.



Meanwhile, officers on patrol on Church Fields Road, Rossington, were walking past a property when they noticed a length of loose wiring coming up from the ground, which appeared to have been a previous base for some form of garden ornament. When they spoke to the resident, Mr Neill he told the officers an ornamental lamppost had been stood there, but it had been stolen a few weeks ago.

Officers told him they had recovered an ornamental lamppost earlier in the week, and Mr Neill provided an identical description to the one recovered. The lamppost was later returned to Mr Neill, who said: “I can’t believe I’ve managed to get it back! I thought it would have been long gone by now. My many thanks to the local police who managed to find and return this lamp to me.”