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Manchester student found £1,000 in trainers she bought on eBay…and sent it back

‘I was glad I returned the money’


You'll go on eBay for a bargain, to save a few quid, but Manchester Met student Ella Gillman may have found the deal of the century, after finding £1000 in her eBay order.

Ella found the money in an envelope in the pair of trainers which she had bought off eBay.

After finding the money, Ella immediately got in touch with the seller, Laura Hazeldine from Brighton, offering to return it to her.

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Ella Gilman (Facebook)

Ella asked for Laura's bank details and paid the money into her account just 25 minutes later.

Laura claims she was keeping the money in the shoes as her local bank branch had closed down, though she had forgotten this and mistakenly sent the shoes off with the money still inside.

As a thank you Ella received a refund for the trainers in addition to some vouchers. She has also received offers of freebies on Twitter from businesses.

Laura said: "I want to figure out a way to thank her and I'm hoping there's a festival or restaurant which will be able to do something nice for her.

"If I was wealthy, I'd do more for her. I'm going to contact her university because people should know what a genuine person she is. She's one in a million.

"I don't think many other people would have contacted me to say they had found £1,000 in a trainer. She even sent me a photo of the bank receipt."

Ella says she didn't expect a refund for the trainers, and returned the money simply because if she had lost £1000 in a similar way, she'd hope that someone does the same for her.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "My reaction when I saw the money was shock. I opened the shoes and found an envelope stuffed in the shoe, thinking she had just stuffed the shoe to keep them from creasing.

"I thought, if I had lost that substantial amount of money, I would hope someone would return it to me also.

"I was glad I had returned the money, to see how grateful Laura was and how upset she was without the money. I was also really surprised that Laura refunded me the money for the shoes."