Mum offering £150 reward for cherished soft toy lost at Middlebrook Retail Park after 45 years

A heartbroken woman has appealed for help to be reunited with the cherished soft toy that she was given over 45 years ago and has travelled the world with.

Sophie Luke, 46, was given the cuddly cow, called Daisy, by her father when she was a baby and has took her almost everywhere since. This includes going to Las Vegas, various European cities and Sophie even carried her down the aisle when she got married to husband Mike, 45. But the mum-of-two was shopping at Middlebrook retail park in Bolton, Greater Manchester, on December 31 when the toy fell out of the car.

Sophie didn't realise she had left Daisy until she arrived back home in Bristol later that night and has since been left 'heartbroken.' Now she is appealing for members of the public to help reunite her with the stuffed animal.

She said: "I'm devastated obviously. I'm very conscious that there's lots of terrible things happening globally at the moment and in comparison, this is really small. But everyone can identify with how they feel when they lose something that's sentimental. She's very old and she's been with me my whole life - she's travelled around the world with me and she was there at my wedding day.

"All my family and friends know about Daisy and they used to regularly follow my Facebook page so they could see the latest pictures of her. I'm devastated to think that I've had her for 45 years and she's just gone - it's really heartbreaking."

After realising that Daisy had gone missing at the retail park, Sophie created a social media campaign to get her back. Several members of the public have reached out to the mum-of-two and one said they saw her outside on a post outside Homesense. Another local said they spotted a little girl playing with her while another said they noticed her outside of the Asda in the retail park.

Sophie said: "My husband got up at 5am on New Years Day and for three hours drove back to the retail park. He looked around the car park before it got full and then went around the shops and left all of our details. But she hasn't been seen on site since so that's why I turned to social media because it's hard to know what else to do."

Over the years, Sophie has taken Daisy to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Canada and several European cities. When she married Mike, she carried Daisy down the aisle and even made a mini matching veil for her.

Sophie said: "She never left my side growing up and she doesn't know, although I'm a middle aged woman. I think everyone has an item that remains precious to them throughout their life and for me that's Daisy.

"When I was in my twenties, she went to the Grand Canyon, snowboarding in Canada, Ibiza, Las Vegas and all around different European cities. You name it, she's probably been there and I've had pictures of her in most of these places. She's done the rounds."

Sophie is now offering a £150 reward for Daisy's safe return back to the retail park as an 'incentive' for her to be returned.

The executive assistant said: "I'm trying to be practical about it, which is why I've offered a £150 award as an incentive. Someone might discover her in a bag as a child might have picked them up, I know these things can happen. Or someone might have her and think it's not worth doing the return trip. But hopefully this might pull on someone's heartstrings and make them realise how precious she actually is to me."

Sophie has asked that if anyone has found Daisy, that they would return her to either the Homesense or Asda at the retail park. They can also return her to the Emerson Management office at the retail park.