Dozens of families will be sure of having their turkey on Christmas Day thanks a fair cop.

At about 2.30am, traffic officers stopped a suspicious vehicle and recovered a large quantity of meat from the Nick Browns Butchers in Longlevens.

A male made off from the vehicle but was located and apprehended with the help of a police dog.

Subsequent inquiries confirmed that the shop had been broken into during the early hours and that approximately £20,000-worth of meat had been stolen.

Police later discovered the rest of the stolen property at a Gloucester home.

A 21-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, who both live in the City, were arrested on suspicion of burglary and handling or receiving stolen goods respectively and are now helping police with inquiries.

Nick Brown said: "About £20,000-worth of turkey, beef-fillet and sirloins were taken, it was all the best stuff."

Explaining a lot of this meat had been especially pre-ordered for Christmas, he added: "It was irreplaceable, we'd prepared all the orders and if we hadn't got it back we'd have had to start all over again. This would have meant people got their order late, if we could replace it at all.

"I'm over the moon. I got the meat back through wonderful police work, it was a superb and second to none service."

Superintendent Geoff Brookes of Gloucester police said: "I am pleased that our proactive work enabling us to recover stolen property and make arrests before the break-in had even been reported will ensure Gloucester residents' festive break will not be affected as might have been the case.

"I am also glad Mr Brown is so pleased. We strive to provide a first class service whatever the nature of the incident we are called to."

If you spotted suspicious activity in the area at the time or have information about the break-in at this shop, please call Gloucestershire Constabulary as soon as possible on 0845 090 1234, quoting incident number 32 of December 19.