A WAR medal dug up in a garden and returned to the owner's family has uncovered a mystery.

Earlier this year the Adver reported on the search to find the grandson of Sgt Frank Titchener of the Wiltshire Regiment after heating engineer Martin Hilyer found what was thought to be the First World War soldier's medal.

Also called Frank, he was eventually found with the help of a cousin, John Mackman.

But after the inscribed medal was handed over Frank said he believed it actually belonged to his uncle Bert and that his grandad's medals must have been shared between his sons, Frank and Bert.

He explained:“My father had one and his brother uncle Bert, who lived in Swindon, must have had the other. I honestly didn’t know it had existed until now.”

“My father had a large round medal whereas this one is a triangle shape with a lot of edges and is a lot smaller than my father’s. It has a royal crown on the back and is a Victoria cross shape.”

Grandson Frank, 84, said his father's medal went missing after he was burgled at his home in Oxford but later turned up in a drawer.

How Bert's medal, thought to be the Mons Star, turned up buried in the garden of Martin's home in Elborough Road, Moredon, which was built long after the conflict is a mystery.

Frank said "I have a lot of step-family as my grandmother remarried again into the Mackman family and they lived in Rodbourne Cheney at the time. So somebody may have lifted it from Uncle Bert’s house. But I don’t know how it got there.”

Bert died early in the Second World War and his brother died in 2006 with the instruction to his son to look after his medal. Now both medals are in Frank's care.

Frank said all his family has served in the military. "Grandad was a sergeant, my dad was a sergeant and I didn’t join at 18 because I was a printing apprentice so it got deferred until I was 20.”

Records show that Frank Titchener died of his wounds on January 2, 1915, aged 27 and is buried in Valenciennes Communal Cemetery in France.

The medal given to Bert is believed to be 1914 Star which was awarded to members of the British Expeditionary Force who landed in France and took part in the Retreat from Mons.