A few years ago I found a phone in the street. It didn't have any return-to or ICE message on the homescreen so I decided to drop it into the local police station in case someone was searching for it.

What a mistake that was. Just to hand it in they wanted my name, address, contact details, statement of where and when I found it, what I had done with it since finding it... after standing-around for 10 minutes waiting for the duty officer to saunter down. What an ordeal.

Earlier this year I found another phone in a park and took it to the EE store, as it was branded as one of their phones. "Thanks mate! We'll get it back to its owner. Here, have a coffee and a bun on us for being an honest guy!"

I know which option I'd choose again in future. I don't blame the gentleman in the story for going to a paper rather than the police, especially having found something the mere possession of which could get him arrested.

Maybe you don't trust the police to keep it safe. Maybe you don't trust the police to trust you and take this seriously. Maybe you'd rather have such mishaps be known than kept silent, hoping for things to get better. Then again I don't know squat about what kind of editorial line or journalistic quality the Sunday Mirror entertains.

He may have been paid for it.