Image caption The bag contained £1,300 in cash

An east Belfast couple have hailed the "good Samaritan" who returned a lost handbag containing £1,300.

Harry and Marie said Andrew Edgar, who returned the bag, had restored their faith in humanity.

The couple had been at a funeral on Thursday morning. Harry had been holding his wife's bag then set it on top of the car as he looked for his keys.

After driving off they noticed the bag was missing.

"I knew it was my fault and I have to admit I was in a terrible state," Harry said.

As the couple frantically searched for the bag, Andrew Edgar was returning home when he had to swerve around an object on the road.

"I got about two streets up and something told me to turn around and go and have a look at it," Mr Edgar said.

"So I did a u-turn in the road, pulled up and it happened to be a lady's handbag.

"I opened it up and had a look inside to see if there was a name or details and I found a name and address inside a glasses case.

I wouldn't have had a penny to pay for anything. I could have been sitting here eating beans on toast for a month." Marie

"Then I had another check inside it and it was full of a substantial amount of cash as well.

"So I looked up the address online and drove straight to the house to find the two owners frantically looking around the outside of their house, looking a bit distraught."

Marie said she had just got the money out that morning.

"I'd just lifted it out of the bank. It was the month's pension just to pay the bills and that throughout the month," she said.

"So I wouldn't have had a penny to pay for anything. I could have been sitting here eating beans on toast for a month."

Mr Edgar said he thinks most people would have done the same thing as him.

"I'm glad I found the handbag with everything in it," he said.

"I'd have hated to turn up with the handbag and a few of the belongings and the money missing from it, because then you know that somebody had been dishonest.

"Realistically, I'd have expected anybody in the same situation to have done the same thing - things are tough right now, but we can only look after each other."

However, Marie said Andrew had done a very special thing.

"For somebody so young to be so honest... I find it hard to take in," she said.

"I'll always be grateful and thankful to him.

"He'll always be our good Samaritan, not just today, but for the rest of our lives."