FIVE Newport youngsters were thanked after helping to recover 250 letters stolen from a Royal Mail van.

Two bags of mail were stolen from a van in Somerton last Friday.

But youngsters from Aberthaw Drive found them while playing on a bank near their homes on Monday night. Nicola Young said her seven-year-old daughter, Nia, was among the youngsters who thought it was “an amazing find”.

Mrs Young added: “They found the two bags, with mail and post strewn around.

“Nia came running in and we phoned the police.

There were quite a lot of letters there and they helped pick them all up using gloves. They thought that was great fun.”

Molly Thompson, Jordannah Huxtable, Alice Hilleard and Elycia Hughes also helped recover the mail.

Royal Mail spokesman Heulyn Gwyn Davies thanked the youngsters for alerting them to the find and confirmed the mail was stolen from a Royal Mail van.

Mr Davies said around 250 items of mail were recovered from the scene, which will be delivered in the coming days, but it is impossible to keep records of everything posted and it is unclear how many letters were lost or stolen. A Gwent Police spokesman said two bags of mail were discovered on Aberthaw Drive at 6.10pm on Monday.

He said the mail has now been returned to a Royal Mail sorting office and officers will be making further enquiries and liaising with Royal Mail.