Teen 'unbelievably' reunites 'heartbroken' retired officer with service medal stolen from him

A retired police officer had lost all hope of finding his Exemplary Service Medal after thieves stole it last year. The medal was awarded to Geoffrey Barron for 32 years of service with the Northamptonshire Police. Barron was left devastated when the burglars who entered his house to steal valuables, also took the precious medal that was given to him at the time of his retirement, reported Good News Network. 

The 82-year-old was ecstatic when his wife Maureen received a call late last month, informing her that the medal had been found in a river, still in its metal box. It was the efforts of YouTuber Dave Jordan and a teenage fan that helped find the medal and reunite it with Barron.

Jordan, who uses a large magnet to fish out litter from rivers, had organized another litter clean-up and was joined by his young fan, Ryan Davenport, and the boy's father. The team had only been trawling for treasures in the River Nene for about 30 minutes when Ryan fished out a small blue metal box. 

"We would have never found the medal if we hadn't tackled all the rubbish in the river first," said Jordan. "At first, we found old bits of shopping carts and other metal items but about 30 minutes into our fish, Ryan pulled out the box, and it's got 'police long service medal' written on it. It really was like finding a needle in a haystack."

Thankfully, the medal was engraved with Barron's name and badge number, which they later used to track his phone number online. When he told Barron's wife Maureen over the phone that they have found the medal, she couldn't have been happier, Jordan shared. "This was truly the best reward for cleaning up that rubbish... It's amazing," he said.

Ryan and Jordan then planned a visit to meet Barron and return the medal to him. Speaking on behalf of her husband who has Alzheimer's, Maureen revealed that although he does not remember everything, "that medal to say he served for 32 years, he does remember." His face "lit up" when he was told that the medal was found and it will be presented to him by the young man who found it, she added.

They were left "heartbroken" when their house was burgled last December, Maureen shared. She said, "They had stolen jewelry, cash, and our passports, but the most sentimental thing we lost was Geoffrey's police service medal."

Jordan sums up this experience as such: "Finding the medal after doing the good deed we did, that's the message here."