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Appeal for return of war medals taken from Birmingham to Exeter train

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Keith Ridings was returning by train from his father's funeral (pictured above) when the medals went missing

A son is appealing for the return of his father's war medals, after they were taken from a train luggage rack.

Keith Ridings, 64, was returning from his father's funeral on the 11:17 BST train between Birmingham New Street and Exeter St Davids on Tuesday.

The medals were awarded to his father between 1945 and 1948, while serving in North Africa and the Middle East.

He said: "It upsets me someone is in possession of those medals, who has no idea what he went through to get them."

The bag, which also contained clothes and various personal items, was found to be missing from the rack when Mr Ridings got off the train at Exeter.

He said: "I inherited these medals from my father's estate only a couple of weeks ago. When I discovered they were missing, I felt a complete sense of loss and disappointment."

PC Gary Archer, from Exeter station, said: "We don't believe these medals have any monetary value so will be relatively worthless to the thieves - but their value to the victim is priceless. He was understandably distraught to find them missing and so we ask whoever took them to do the right thing and return them to their owner."