A HEARTBROKEN school girl has been reunited with her favourite cuddly toy after an extraordinary social media appeal to hunt down the treasured teddy bear went viral.

Four-year-old Scarlet Coyne, of Carrington Park, was inconsolable after her beloved stuffed toy, who answers to the name of Harold the Harrods bear, went missing during a walk in Walton Park on Saturday morning.

Her father Dave Coyne said: "To say she was upset was an understatement. This bear goes everywhere with her - even to school.

"She loves that bear so when she realised he was missing there were a lot of tears."

Devastated by the loss of her trusty sidekick, which has rarely left her side since she was born, Dave launched an appeal on social media to help find the bear and bring him home.

Luckily for Dave, the online search quickly gained momentum with countless people sharing and liking the post including Cheshire Police.

"It was quite overwhelming that so many people were trying to help," he added.

And by Sunday afternoon, the family's determination to track down the bear had paid off after they received the text they had been hoping for - Harold has been found and was unharmed.

A stranger had taken the bear home for safe keeping after the mum of four had found him in Walton Gardens.

"It was quite overwhelming that so many people were trying to help," he added.

But now Harold is back in the rightful arms of the St Wilfrid's pupil and Dave put the success of the appeal down to the power of the internet and the kindness of the people of Warrington.

"We would just like to thank everyone that helped. We have one very happy little girl again."

"When we found him, my wife even went out to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate but then fell asleep before we could drink it because of the stress of it all," he laughed

Scarlet, who could not wipe the smile off her face after being reunited with the bear, said she was very happy to have the bear back as he gives 'better cuddles than daddy'.

Harold will now be kept under a watchful eye of the Coyne family in case he dares to set off on an accompanied adventure again.

"I'm going to put a tracking device inside Harold," joked Dave.