A PHOTOGRAPHER turned detective when she tracked down her stolen camera to a secondhand shop in Bolton.

Michelle Edge was horrified when her £1,500 digital camera was stolen from St Ethelbert’s Church in Deane on Sunday as she prepared to take shots of a First Holy Communion.

But the camera is now back in her hands after she spotted the Nikon D200 for sale on internet auction website eBay.

The seller was identified as “Mobi 4U,” which, through an internet search Michelle discovered was a secondhand shop in Tonge Moor Road, Tonge Moor.

Michelle, who runs Angles Photography, told police who raided the shop at 11am on Wednesday, seizing her camera.

A 19-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft.

She said: “When I realised my camera was gone, I was shaking and panicking. I felt sick. I had a little spare camera with me so I managed to do the job.

“The morning after, I rang all the camera shops but there was nothing. Then on Tuesday, I saw it on eBay.”

There were three D200 cameras up for sale but only one was being sold in Bolton by a seller called Mobi 4U.

“I put two and two together and called the police who were brilliant. They got a warrant really quickly and I got my camera back. I was absolutely over the moon,” said Michelle, aged 35, from Bolton, who specialises in weddings and portrait photography.

Police returned the camera to Michelle, who had a record of the serial number, once she proved it was hers.

Sgt Paul Ellis, of the Bolton Town Centre Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “I am really pleased we have been able to recover this camera and return it to the owner.

“The importance of recording the serial number on items like this has been shown once again, and I would urge people to record details of any valuable items, and, if possible, mark them with security pens to enable us to reunite them with their property.”

A spokesman for Mobi 4 U said: “We are doing everything we can to help the police.

“We are an honest business and we had no idea this camera was stolen.”

The 19-year-old arrested on suspicion of theft has been bailed pending further inquiries.