Tragic firefighter's bike return

Richard Jenkins used his bike to get to work on the day he died

The parents of a firefighter killed on duty are "overjoyed" after his bicycle which had been stolen was returned.

Richard Jenkins, 28, from Bryntirion, Bridgend, died in 2004 when a gas canister exploded in a disused hall in Cardiff which had been set alight.

He was a keen cyclist and his parents had stored his bike with the hope of passing it on to his son.

But thieves took it during a raid on a garden shed and his mother Sandie made an appeal for it to be brought back.

Mrs Jenkins explained: "On Sunday at about six o'clock we heard a knock knock at the door and there was a chap standing there.

"He said to us 'This is Richard's bike, I've been told to bring it to you'.

"He said 'It wasn't me that took it' but didn't give us anymore information.

The return of the bike has really restored my faith in humanity Sandie Jenkins

"I think he just wanted to get out of there to be honest.

"We couldn't believe it, we are absolutely overjoyed," she said.

Mrs Jenkins, also from Bryntirion, told BBC News a week ago how the theft had left her family feeling "violated" after the bike, which Richard had rode to work on the day he died, was taken.

The family had dismantled the bike and kept it in storage following Richard's death in May 2004 with the hope of passing it on to his son when he was older.

"The return of the bike has really restored my faith in humanity," said Mrs Jenkins.

"It's good to know that somewhere we touched a nerve and someone did have a conscience after all.

"I have no knowledge of the person who returned the bike but am so really overjoyed to have the cycle back as it means so much to us.

"It's now safely locked up in a different place," she said."

Guilty of manslaughter

Mr Jenkins was a firefighter based at Barry for 18 months after joining the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service in 2002.

He was the first firefighter to enter a disused bingo hall in Ely on 23 May 2004 which had been deliberately set alight.

He suffered massive head and facial injuries when a gas canister exploded.

He left a widow, Catherine, and two children, Conor and Charlotte.

Two men, Christopher Raisis and Jamie Evans, were jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of Mr Jenkins.

Along with a third man Craig Sterio, who was jailed for four years, they were also guilty of witness intimidation, robbery and causing actual bodily harm.