A retired police officer left heartbroken when thieves stole his exemplary service medal has now been reunited with it - after it was pulled out of a RIVER. Geoffrey Barron, 82, was devastated when burglars ransacked his home last December and took his treasured medal which had been awarded to him when he retired in 1994. The pensioner, who served for 32 years in Northamptonshire Police, believed the medal was lost forever following the raid. But now, Geoffrey and his wife Maureen, 72, have been left 'over the moon' as they have been reunited with the medal after a 'one in a million' discovery. The medal was discovered by magnet fisher and environmentalist Dave Jordan, 45, one of his fans Ryan, 17, and his dad. YouTuber Dave organises river litter-picking days and often invites some of his fans to join him on a trawl for treasure. The trio had only been searching the river in Northampton for just 30 minutes before Ryan fished out a blue metal box. Inside was a medal which was engraved with Geoffrey’s name and police number which Dave used to tracked the pensioner down online. After contacting the grandparents-of-six, Ryan has now been able to reunite the medal with Geoffrey, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. And now, Maureen has said that she is 'just over the moon' and she believes Ryan finding the medal was just 'meant to be.' She said: "I'm just over the moon to be honest. "I have to keep telling Geoffrey, but when he sees the medal he will be so pleased. "It's just wonderful what these people do to clear the rubbish away and clear the rivers and to find this - it's just one in a million. "I do think that I'm going to have to change the ribbons as they are not too good, so I'm going to go somewhere and get them renewed. "Then the medal is going to be back by Geoffrey's side so he can keep looking at it and remembering it. "My children just can't believe it's been found either, it's just unbelievable and meant to be. "Geoffrey was so, so upset when it went and it took him a few weeks but he kept remembering about it now and again. "He kept saying that he had lost his medal so now we've got it back, it's just wonderful."