A mysterious globe discovered outside a house in in Royal Wootton Bassett has sparked a police appeal.

Residents found the expensive looking globe on their doorstep and phoned the neighbourhood policing team.

The police collected the distinctive item, and launched an appeal through social media to track down the owners.

They did receive a response, and the owner of the globe admitted it had been left there on purpose for the owner’srelatives to discover.

What was meant to be a pleasant surprise turned into confusion because the housholders thought they would be doing a good deed by handing it in to police.

The owner can now collect the globe from the police.

PCSO Andy Singfield, of the Royal Wootton Bassett neighbourhood policing team, was tasked with reuniting the globe with its owner.

“This has been quite a strange case to be involved in,” he said.

“The item was found on Saturday evening after somebody rang in saying they had found a globe on their front doorstep.

“It appears it was somebody leaving it for them, so it seems as though it was a miscommunication by some relatives that had it end up in our possession.

“We would say that if you leave something out in the open to make sure somebody knows about it in advance.”