Mystery of elephant ornaments in St Helens solved

We can confirm the original owner of 64 ornamental elephants left on doorsteps in St Helens has attended St Helens Police Station to collect the items.

We received several reports the elephants had been left outside homes in the Vincent Street area of St Helens on Thursday night into Friday morning last week (26 and 27 November), and collected the items.

Yesterday evening (Monday 30 November) a man from St Helens attended St Helens Police Station and explained he had left the elephants to mark the first anniversary of his wife’s passing.

Community Sergeant Andy Halfpenny said: “I would like to thank those people who made us aware of the presence of the elephants out of genuine uncertainty about why they were there.

“Thankfully it has now been confirmed that the motivation was sheer kindness and the ornaments were left on doorsteps as a touching gesture by an elderly man in honour of his late wife who had collected them.”