A family left devastated when a thief stole their car, and with it their wheelchair, are set to be reunited with them.

Last week, a burglar managed to break into Sandra Hockey's home in Iberian Avenue, Wallington, after they put something through her letterbox to pull the door handle down from the inside.

Whilst Ms Hockey and her daughter Amanda slept upstairs, the intruder grabbed the car keys and made off in the family car in the early hours of the morning.

Unbeknown to the thief, in the boot of the Vauxhall Astra was Amanda's wheelchair - the wheelchair she calls her "legs" as she can not walk without assistance due to her spina bifida.

Ms Hockey said the whole event made her "stomach churn", but now the family have had some good news.

Police discovered the stolen car in Peckham on Friday (22 February) with the wheelchair still in the boot.

Residents had been in touch with the paper with generous offers to replace the wheelchair since the story emerged.

Ms Hockey said: "I want to thank everyone for the very kind offers but the NHS has been in touch and Amanda is getting a new wheelchair. Plus we will have the old one back so we will have a bit of a collection.

We never intended to get people to offer us a new wheelchair, but I want to thank everyone for their support. People have been very generous."

"It's not clear what kind of condition the car is in yet, but there is apparently a bit of damage to the outside of it.

We will have it recovered and assess the damage from there. I'll be glad to get it back so we can start getting around again."