A TEENAGER has helped reunite a veteran children’s entertainer with his magic horseshoes puzzle after it was thrown into the river by a passing drunk.

Street magician Alfred Hill, 73, had the trick taken from him while he was trying to entertain passers-by on Framwellgate Bridge in Durham last month.

After CCTV of the cruel prank was released, 13-year-old Jonathan Lambert, from Esh Winning, decided to try and find it using magnets.

Jonathan, a pupil at St Leonard’s School, in Durham, went out with his dad Michael and family friend Robert Chapple, also from Esh Winning, on Sunday.

Mr Chapple, 33, a ground layer and keen angler, said: “We’d seen it online and I’ve seen him in Durham for years so we planned to go down to see what we could do.

“We went out on Saturday but the river was too high so we went out again on Sunday evening when it went down. We were hoping it wouldn’t have been washed away. We do a lot of fishing so we know the river inside out.

“We had a big high-powered magnet on a 30 metre rope and we just kept throwing it in and we struck gold.

“We were there for about two hours and it was on the last cast that Jonathan got it.

After being reunited with the trick, which he bought 20 years ago, Mr Hill said: “I’m over the moon. I wasn’t expecting to get it back but it’s amazing what they’ve done.

“I’m overjoyed by it and it’s still in good working condition. I can’t wait to be using it on the bridge again on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the man who threw the trick off the bridge has turned himself into police.

Mr Hill, who lives with his wife Elsie in Chester-le-Street, has been performing in Durham for more than 20 years.

The great-grandfather, who also performs magic and makes balloon animals at children’s parties under the name of Uncle Alf, had been approached by a group of revellers at around 2.20pm on October 1.

He had asked one of them to try to remove a steel ring from the chain between the horseshoes but instead of playing along, the man swore at Mr Hill and threw the metal puzzle into the river below.

PC Jayne Marshall said: “We are thrilled and delighted that Alfred’s story touched so many hearts. It was a lovely idea to go and look for the horseshoe puzzle and to find it is the icing on the cake.

“There were also some very generous posts on social media from people including offers to make brand new, original horseshoes and offers of money towards a new set.”

A police spokesperson said: “A man has come forward and identified himself as the person responsible for throwing the item into the river, and police will be speaking to him on a formal basis in the next couple of days.”