A mystery good Samaritan handed a lost £500 worth of euros in to Royston Police Station, leading the cash to be returned to its rightful owners more than 170 miles away.

A clear A4 plastic folder was found in the postbox at the station on August 3. It contained €540, a holiday itinerary and two boarding passes for a flight from Manchester to Rome – but there was nothing to indicate who had found it, or where or when.

The boarding passes belonged to a couple called Andrew and Josephine Minshull, so the Royston Safer Neighbourhood Team checked the electoral register in a bid to track them down and reunite them with their missing items.

They found just one person with the surname in Royston – and after going to meet him, he said that he had no relatives with the name of Andrew or Josephine.

He did explain that Minshull is a surname originating from Cheshire – which made sense to the officers, as the flight was from Manchester.

The safer neighbourhood team went back to the electoral register and found an Andrew and Josephine Minshull living in Warrington, Cheshire.

After PC Joanna Cattley made contact with Cheshire officers, Andrew Minshull spoke over the phone to PCSO Penny Tomsett in Royston.

Fortunately, after answering a few security questions, it became clear that the owner had finally been found.

Mr and Mrs Minshull had stayed at Royston High Street’s The Old Bull Inn when attending his nephew’s wedding on July 30.

Mr Minshull believes that he lost the items when packing up the car for the return trip to Warrington.

He was delighted that someone had been so honest as to hand it all in – and he travelled down to Royston to collect his folder shortly afterwards.

He said: “I can’t believe there are honest people still out there. We had written it off as lost so we were shocked to receive a call telling us that it had been found in Royston.

“I would like to thank Hertfordshire Constabulary for going to the effort they did in order to track me down.”

PCSO Penny Tomsett said: “We are over the moon to have been able to reunite Mr Minshull with the folder. Royston is a lovely town and most people here are still very community-minded and honest.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the mystery good Samaritan who put the folder into the police postbox.”