A statue of Jesus that was taken from a crib in Waterford city yesterday has been recovered.

The statue, which had been broken in a number of places, was handed in to Ballybricken Garda Station this evening.

Efforts will be made tomorrow to have the statue put back together and returned to the crib.

Local priest Fr Gerry Langford had appealed for the safe return of the figure, which was made by FÁS workers.

Speaking to RTÉ News earlier, Fr Langford said there was a big search going on around the city, "everybody's talking about it."

"Christmas is a time for miracles and magic, so maybe the baby might turn up again."

And this afternoon the statue was returned, with gardaí crediting the publicity on radio and television.

The open air crib outside the Cathedral on Barronstrand Street was officially opened two weeks ago.

The cathedral said it decided to put Jesus in the crib before Christmas Day due to the "excellent" response from children and passers-by.

The statue was left unprotected overnight in the hope that nobody would damage it, according to the cathedral.

However, the statue of Jesus was stolen in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Gardaí are checking CCTV footage to see if they can find out who was behind the theft.

