A TRADESMAN has been reunited with his missing toolbox after almost six years of waiting, thanks to him marking it so police could trace it back to him.

Dorset Police's Rural Crime Team has been trying to locate owners for suspected stolen items they have found across the county.

However, they said that the job of reuniting people with their stolen items is difficult due to people not taking the proper steps to ensure they are able to be traced back to their owners.

A spokesperson said: "When we try and locate an owner for these items we have found items not marked with any identifying marks, they aren’t fitted with DNA products or when we have checked the police system the serial numbers aren’t on there.

"This is because they were never provided to police at the time that the crimes were recorded or because the incidents were never reported to Dorset Police.

"We have been working our way through items trying to locate owners and the good news is we have managed to locate one item’s owner which was stolen from a tradesperson back in December 2014.

"That tradesperson had a very unexpected phone call from PC 350 to tell him that we had located his stolen item. We were able to do this thanks to him marking the tool box with his business name and contact phone number.

"By doing these simple things it may increase the likelihood of us finding you as an owner should we recover stolen items with these on."