Real Housewives of Cheshire star Ampika Pickston has had the cherished rare £35,000 watch - stolen in an armed raid of her home in August - returned to her after a nationwide appeal.
Thieves got away with a haul of £70,000 after they robbed the luxury home last month , threatening her housekeeper Lesly Khan with an axe, knife and hammer before she could activate a panic alarm.
The stolen items included a rare designer watch encrusted with pink diamonds worth £35,000, costume jewellery, a £1,000 bottle of Clive Christian perfume and two Chanel handbags.
The security company Mrs Pickston uses to safeguard her house also funds the entire running costs of a children’s charity - Cheshire’s Children.
The company and the charity, which works with young people on estates in and around Cheshire, appealed to the community for help after the raid.
Now it has been revealed that the rare watch - believed to be one of just three in the country - was returned to Mrs Pickston within days of the charity issuing the appeal last month.
To thank the charity Mrs Pickston has now handed over a cheque to help their fund-raising efforts.
She said: “I have seen first-hand the unique and proactive role that Cheshire’s Children played in the recovery of my property.
“The combined efforts of my security company and the local charity has created such goodwill in the local community.
“It is inspiring young people and I am delighted to make a generous donation to its continued efforts and I feel sure that others will follow suit.”
A spokeswoman for Cheshire’s Children said: “It was unusual to use the links that we have forged with these young people via our local liaisons in these circumstances, but it demonstrates very powerfully that when time and energy is devoted to these young people, the best in them comes to the fore for all to see.”
The gang dragged Mrs Khan, who was alone, upstairs by the back of the neck and threw her onto a bed, shouting and swearing and demanding to know where the safe was. She suffered a panic attack as a result.
Beauty entrepreneur Mrs Pickston was at a screening for the first episode of the second series of the hit ITVBe show when the robbery took place on August 20, just after 9pm.
Producers at the ITV studios at MediaCityUK were informed and broke the news to her. No one was injured.
The raiders also took a silver Mercedes Benz from the driveway, but it was later found abandoned nearby.