Homeless man spends two days reuniting woman with her lost handbag

'There needs to be more people like this in the world'

Paul Calderbank found Daisy Owen's bag outside a pub (Daisy Owen)

A homeless man spent two days tracking down a woman after finding her handbag in the street.

Daisy Owen, 20, lost a bag containing her purse, cash and her £300 iPhone on a night out in Bolton.

She said Paul Calderbank had restored her "faith in humanity" after he found the handbag outside a pub and ​began a search for its owner.

He roamed the streets for two days asking people who looked about Ms Owen's age if they knew her, after learning her identity from her provisional driving licence.

Mr Calderbank, who has been homeless for four years, attached a note to the bag explaining his mission because he feared people would assume he had stolen it.

He planned to walk to Ms Owen's house to return the bag but encountered some of her friends, who messaged her on Facebook and arranged for the two to meet.

"I am so grateful and so happy that there are people like this in the world," said Ms Owen, from Bolton.

"He is homeless and currently living in a hostel yet still didn’t take a penny out of it."

Paul Calderbank was worried people would think he had stolen the bag (Daisy Owen)

She has launched an online fundraising page to help Mr Calderbank pay for some clothes, food, and a home. The page has raised more than £1,100 in donations in two days.

Ms Owen said: "This man has been above and beyond and found my bag Saturday morning and spent two days walking around asking and trying to find me, and was just on his way to my home address to try and return my bag to me personally.

"He was terrified of letting any of the other homeless people in Bolton know he had found this bag or the police seeing him with it in case he was accused of stealing, so he has spent the weekend walking around with this letter so he didn’t get in trouble.

"There needs to be more people like this in the world. We need to get his man off the streets."

She said Mr Calderbank had gone hungry instead of buying food with the £10 cash in her bag.

Daisy Owen launched a fundraising page to help a homeless man who found her handbag (Daisy Owen/Facebook)

In the three-page note he attached to the bag, Mr Calderbank wrote: "I want to locate the true owner and personally hand all her belongings back to her, because I am an honest person now, because to me it feels so good to do the right thing, and there is money in the purse and I have not taken a penny.

"This girl is going to be so happy that someone has returned all her belongings back to her and nothing is missing out of the bag. Can't wait to do some detective work and locate the girl personally."

Ms Owen is aiming to raise £1,500 for Mr Calderbank.

"I had a chat with him about options of what he wanted to do with the money and he definitely wants to get a flat and maybe sort a deposit with it," she said. "I am determined to get this man a home."