A teenager has been reunited with his bike more than 18 months after it was stolen, thanks to the power of social media.

In January last year Liam Woods, then 11, was devastated when his bike, which he received as a Christmas present, was taken from a metal shelter at Tabor Academy, in Panfield Lane, Braintree.

However after more than a year-and-a-half, a family friend spotted the bike on a Facebook page with an appeal to find the rightful owners.

On Tuesday, Liam, now 13, was reunited with his beloved bike at Braintree Police Station, and his family have expressed their thanks to the public and police for all their help.

His dad, Paul Woods, said: “Liam is ecstatic and he cannot believe it - we could not believe it ourselves.

“Other than a bit of rust on it the bike is fine.

“It needs a good old clean up but after that it will be like a brand new bike.”

The Carrera pushbike was taken from Tabor Academy on January 25 last year.

Bolt cutters were used to break-in to a shelter and take the bike, which was secured using a lock at the time.

Another bike was also taken at the same time.

The bike was later recovered by Essex Police, who set about finding its rightful owner.

Mr Woods said: “One of my older son’s friends noticed a post by Braintree Police asking if anyone recognised the bike.

“My son said it looked like Liam’s bike so we went back and had a look at the article on the Times’ website.

“It had been so long we had forgotten what it looked like.

“I had to prove the bike was ours and luckily I managed to get a e-receipt from when I bought it.”

Mr Woods said Liam now hoped to be able to start riding to school again.

He said: “Liam went about a year without a bike, because they are obviously quite expensive, but eventually we got him a new one for Christmas in 2017.

“He hasn’t had a massive growth spurt or anything like that so the other bike is still the right size.

“Now he has two bikes so I might have to start taking the other one out with him. We want to say a massive thank you to whoever found it and reported it and to the police as well.

“He will be taking his bike to school again, although he might be taking a bigger chain with him in the future.”