DISABLED Eastleigh man Christopher Leech is singing the praises of the Daily Echo and the police after the return of his vital wheelchair.

On Wednesday, we told how thieves had stolen 52-year-old Mr Leech's lifeline when they made off with his wheelchair from the carport of his home in Mountbatten Road, Boyatt Wood, in broad daylight.

The theft enraged Mr Leech's wife Diana who said: "Without his chair he is stuck. He lives in it, he can't be without a wheelchair."

The couple, who suffer from cerebral palsy, are both wheelchair bound. Forty-nine-year-old Mrs Leech has been in a wheelchair all her life and her husband has been dependent on one for the last ten years.

But their plight following the mean theft was eased when a sharp-eyed Daily Echo reader spotted the story and rang Eastleigh police.

A police spokeswoman said they had received a call from a woman in Boyatt Wood who had found a wheelchair dumped in her garden.

Last night, police reunited Mr Leech with his lifeline, bringing a big thank you to all concerned from a grateful Mr Leech.

"He is over the moon," said his wife.