A VETERAN Royal Navy sailor has been reunited with his stolen military medals - marking the end of a five-year detective mission by an Australian cop.

Harry Boota, of Heywood, Rochdale, earned the medals serving as a Chief Petty Officer in the Falklands and the Gulf.

He was so proud of them that when he opened the Tandoori Nights restaurant in Heywood he hung them above the bar for all to see - but he was devastated when they were taken in a burglary in 2002.

Now, six years after the medals went missing, they have been returned to him by an collector who bought them on an internet auction site.

Harry, 52, who works as an IT engineer, said: "I can't believe I have got them back after all this time.

"I was just resigned to the fact that I would never see them again, but to get them back has left me speechless. I will never be able to thank this man enough."

Australian Steve Collins collects military memorabilia and likes to research the history of his treasures.

After buying the three medals - one awarded for long service, one for the Falklands and one for the Gulf - Steve tried to find out who they belonged to.

The inscriptions had been removed after the medals were stolen - all Steve had to go on were the letters `ill' on one medal and `oot' on another.

Despite having so little to go on, tenacious Steve was determined to find out more.
He painstakingly went through every ship in the Navy searching for the letters `ill' and found the only match was HMS Brilliant. Then he was able to match the `oot' to Harry's surname, with the help of staff on HMS Brilliant.

This week Harry received the medals in the post from Steve, who had even replaced the ribbons and mounted them on a small board.

Harry, who served aboard HMS Brilliant in the Falklands and HMS Battleaxe in the Gulf, now plans to send Steve a special medal marking the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. He said: "This man really deserves a medal himself."