A LIFE-SIZE fibreglass pig containing the ashes of a Second World War veteran swiped from his daughter’s home has now been returned.

Jane Gilmore said she was “very relieved” the ornament, which contain the ashes of father Norman Simmons, had come back in one piece.

A piglet also taken has been returned.

The full-time writer from Bloxham said: “I had a phone call from a gentleman who found them in a field while he was walking his dog. I’m so very relieved. I wasn’t expecting to get them back.”

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She added: “My father is back where he belongs. It’s restored my faith in human nature.”

The Oxford Mail reported the theft last month and Mrs Gilmore said the media coverage had helped bring the pigs back.

She said: “If it wasn’t for the Oxford Mail I don’t think I would have seen them again, so thank you.”

Norman Simmons, who died in 2008 aged 82, served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War before spending 55 years as a pig farmer in Essex.

Mrs Gilmore bought the ornaments for £750 about a year ago, and when an ear broke off the large pig before it was placed in her garden she decided to place some of her late father’s ashes inside.

The 50-year-old confirmed the pigs would remain out in the garden.

She said: “They are still going to go back outside but they will have to be a lot more securely fitted.

“They won’t be in the front garden anymore.

“I’ll put them in the side garden, closer to the house.”

Following the incident the mother-of-two is having CCTV cameras fitted and security gates installed.

She said: “It makes me a little bit sad I have to imprison myself in my home and put gates up but at least there are some good people out there.”

Mrs Gilmore said she had informed the police of the pigs’ return.

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