A THREE-year-old boy who was devastated after losing a teddy bear at an Exmouth car boot sale has been reunited with his best friend.

A THREE-year-old boy who was 'devastated' after losing a teddy bear at an Exmouth car boot sale has been reunited with his best friend.

Joshua Hobson, who lives in Hemyock, put his bear down on one of the stalls at a sale held at the Archery Club, Withycombe Raleigh Common, on May 25, and forgot to pick it up again.

But, thanks to an appeal for information published in the Journal, Mr and Mrs Hart, from Exmouth, contacted Joshua's parents to say they had found it.

Joshua's dad, Antony, said he received an email saying they found the abandoned bear, called Ratty, and decided they couldn't leave him and took it home.

He added: "We drove down to Exmouth the next day to reunite Ratty with Joshua who was simply over the moon. What are the odds!

Antony said before the bear was found, he had tried to buy an identical replacement which belongs to the Jellycat brand.

But, after contacting the manufacturer, he found out it was no longer in their stocks. He has also looked on the Gumtree, Amazon and ebay websites, without success.