A GOUROCK man say’s he’s ‘flabbergasted’ after being reunited with his stolen garden statue —nine months after it was taken.

The bizarre theft of the unusual Super Mario figure happened outside Gourock man George Docherty’s home back in June last year.

Our sister paper The Greenock Telegraph told how he was stunned when he realised that the four stone figure — which sat on a wall next to his driveway in Ailsa Road — had been taken.

Now he’s been reunited with the distinctive garden feature after it was found by local man Drew Haughey.

George, above left, said: “I’m chuffed to bits. I can’t explain how pleased I am because I thought it was dead and buried.

“I think that the Telegraph and Facebook appeals helped as the more people who knew about it the better.”

Drew, right, a journalism graduate from Reservoir Road in Gourock, stumbled across the statue whilst out walking up Lyle Hill.

He said: “I saw a bin bag and spotted feet sticking out.

“I used my foot to remove the bin bag and I found a certain Italian plumber staring back at me!

“To be honest I thought it was hilarious. When I got home I posted something on Facebook saying I’d found a statue of Super Mario.

“A few people got back to me to tell me that it was the statue that had gone missing, so I messaged the Telegraph and also phoned the police station.

“I thought the police officer I spoke to was going to hang up because she thought it was a wind-up.

“She said it was the weirdest call she’d ever got.”

George added: “I have no idea how someone managed to carry the statue there.

“The police lifted it to the side of the road for me and I managed to put it in the back of my car. He’s still in one piece and I’m very grateful to Drew for finding him.”

After the story appeared in the Telegraph last year, David Whiteside, who owns Whiteside Memorials in Greenock, kindly ordered a new granite Mario statue for George free of charge, which takes pride of place outside his home...and now has a lookalike!

George added: “I’m so grateful to David as the replacement he made for me is out of this world.”