A MILITARY veteran who was left devastated by the loss of his prized service medals says he is "overwhelmed" after they were returned.

Retired Warrant Officer Class 2, Dale Gibson, 51, marked Remembrance Sunday by taking part in a parade in his hometown of Newton Aycliffe before catching up with old friends, fellow serving and former servicemen and women.

On his way home from the Iron Horse pub to the town centre at about 10pm, the grandfather noticed his four medals had gone missing.

But last night his medals were returned to him by a woman who found them on the road near to St Clare's Church, on St Cuthbert's Way, and spotted the report in The Northern Echo.

WO Gibson said: "I am overwhelmed and very emotional."

WO Gibson, a production supervisor at Gestamp, spent 23 years in the Territorial Army - travelling across the world - and retired in 2014.

His one active service took the then Sargeant to Iraq in 2004 for a six month stint with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

In 2014 he was presented by then Prime Minister Tony Blair with the Iraq Campaign Medal, which went missing along with a Voluntary Reserves Service Medal and two handed out to members of the British Armed Forces to commemorate the Queen's Golden and Diamond Jubilee.

On Thursday the veteran said he had been left "sick to his stomach" after noticing the medals had gone, adding: "My whole world just fell apart when I realised I had lost them."

The veteran had retraced his steps with no luck and took to Facebook to launch an appeal to find them.

"They aren't worth much but are worth a million pounds to me," added WO Gibson.