A TEACHER has been reunited with precious stolen photos of her partner who died of a brain tumour.

Laura Hind feared she would never see the treasured pictures again after the computer hard-drive they were on was taken during a burglary at her home.

Laura, 36, from Otley, made appeals on Facebook and in the Wharfedale Observer after the break-in on July 19.

The intruder had stolen her laptop computers, hard-drives and digital camera – and with them, virtually every photograph she had of her late partner, John Cowan, and their ten years together.

Mr Cowan was diagnosed with a brain tumour a week before Christmas, and died a few weeks later, aged 39, on January 6.

But now it has been returned to her after it was found dumped in a Bradford park.

She said: "Some children found it in a park in Bradford and passed it to an adult, who contacted me and then posted it back.

"It just shows that most people are genuinely good."

Laura, who teaches at Pool-in-Wharfedale, was on holiday in France with her late partner's family when she received a phone call from a man telling her the good news.

She said: "I was quite surprised to hear him saying I think I have got your photographs.

"I had gone ahead with the appeal in the hope something might happen, but realistically not expecting very much. And then I got a call out of the blue."

She said the hard-drive had been returned by a teacher at Sandal Primary School.

Laura added: "His friend had been approached by some kids in Pollard Park, Bradford, who found the hard-drive and didn't know what it was. He'd plugged it in, found my CV on the drive with my phone number and got in touch."

She thanked the Wharfedale Observer for helping with the appeal.

"Thank you for your help in running the article – some faith has been restored," she said.

Speaking after the theft of the hard-drives, Laura revealed: "They contained just about all my photographs from the past ten years and it feels like all my memories of John have been lost.

"I have some photos in my phone and one or two around the house, but the vast majority were on the computer.

“Photographs are one of the only sources of comfort when someone dies, and without them it just makes it harder than it has to be."