A FOREST wife has just had the unenviable task of telling the family she's inadvertently given away their £550 mortgage money.

Not that her husband is entirely blameless: he had put it in an icebucket for safekeeping – an icebucket his wife sold on Sunday at the Folly farm Car Boot Sale, Coleford.

"We're having the most dreadful time. I haven't slept at all since, and you can imagine how I feel – and what was said," she told the Review on Monday.

"I'd only just given over the money to him and I didn't know he was going to put it there. I never took the lid off – it felt empty. Now I'm beside myself.

"All I can hope is that whoever bought it will find it and return it via the police, who say it can't do any harm to advertise our problem (call 0845 090 1234 and ask for Coleford Police quoting lost property recovery number 98/11)."

The item, decorated around the base with horses' hooves, was sold between 7.30am and 9am from the back of her son's car, a blue BMW, in the third row of stalls. The cash was all in notes.

She believes the buyer was a trader in his early 30s wearing a blue hoodie top with marks which looked like bleach stains.

"I think he also bought two brooches from me – one of them was a penguin with an eye missing," she said.

"I can only hope he's honest enough to give it back when he finds out what has happened. We don't know how we'll cope without it."

The popular Folly Farm Car Boot only restarted two weeks ago.