A COMMUNITY police officer took time out of her busy schedule to return a pensioner's stolen bike.

PCSO Lorraine Keating, from the Braintree community policing team, reunited the bike with its owner on Saturday in Witham.

The bike was reported stolen on December 28 and was recovered when officers carried out a warrant in Sutor Close, Witham, on February 6.

A number of high value bikes were recovered from the property during the operation and the pictures were shared all over the Essex Police social media channels.

One of the man's neighbours spotted distinctive bike and contacted the community policing team to arrange for its collection.

The bike turned out to be the elderly gentleman's only form of transport so Lorraine decided to personally deliver the bike to him.

She said: "It was lovely to see how grateful he was to be reunited with his bike today.

"He told me that he was lost without it and relied on it for his independence."