Man finds €100,000 in bin behind shop
Elderly couple's life savings were accidentally thrown away in house clear-out when they moved into retirement home
A MAN who found €100,000 in bank notes in a bin behind a hardware shop has returned the cash to its elderly owners in full.
Yvon Wonterghem, whose son owns the Bricorama in Saint-André on the outskirts of Lille, was rummaging through some household waste bags that had been illegally dumped in the shop bin to find the name and address of whoever was responsible.
He told La Voix du Nord that when he came across the large metal box full of carefully counted and sorted bank notes, "the first thing I thought was: wow, there’s the motor-home I always dreamed of owning".
His conscience kicked in and he visited the address written on a piece of paper in the box. The woman who answered the doorbell was the daughter of an elderly couple who had recently gone into a retirement home.
She explained that the house was being thoroughly cleaned out. Neighbours had been invited round to help themselves to any belongings and one of them must have taken the box but then thrown it away without looking inside.
Mr Wonterghem added: "Ninety per cent of people will think I’m mad. But I thought if someone stole my care-home savings I too would be glad if they returned them."
The couple's daughter, who is not named by the paper, added: "I'm eternally grateful to him. I didn't know men like him still existed."
