AN OSWESTRY man has hailed the power of social media for the return of his treasured guitar.

The man was "astounded" after an appeal for information on the Advertizer website led to the safe return of his Fender Villager 12-string guitar on Tuesday night (January 1) after it was stolen from his house in Orchard Street over the weekend.

The man, who asked not to be named, said that he believes the guitar was stolen while he was going in and out of the house to take out rubbish.

He says he was told that the daughter of a man who had been given the guitar, which cost more than £400, saw the Facebook messages and informed her father.

He then gave it to a friend of the rightful owner who has put a post online, and the guitar was returned.

The owner said that the guitar was returned "by the power of Facebook".

"There are some good people around. Friends put it on Facebook and it just snowballed," he added.

"I thought it was just gone. I was speechless [when I found out it had been returned] and I though 'wow'. I was delighted to get it back because it's like a part of me."