The eight year mystery of why a statue of a Virgin Mary was abandoned in a garden has finally been solved - and the truth is less than divine.

Baffled Tim McLoughlin called police after he spotted the plastic figurine in his garden one Monday morning.

He was pictured beside the statue in the Observer in 2009 and was quoted saying he suspected ‘someone took it after a few drinks’ before dumping it in his front garden in Clayton-le-Moors.

Now the truth has finally emerged - and yes, it was a drunken escapade... but the person who did it was his Tim’s own son.

Connor McLoughlin, who now lives in Australia, tweeted his guilty secret, posting pictures of the original stories.

The 25-year-old wrote: “I got drunk with my mates. Brought a Mary statue home and left it in the garden.

“Forgot about it and had to pretend I had no idea about it. The newspaper came to take a photo to find out where it came from. Look at my Dad.”

He added: “A couple of weeks later the church contacted us and came to pick her up.”

In the original story, Tim revealed he had suspected initially his son had been drinking when he told him the Virgin Mary was in their front garden.

Drawing back the curtains of his Whalley Road house, he could hardly believe his eyes when he saw the 4ft plastic biblical figure.

Tim, then 49, said: “I got up on Monday morning and discovered she had just been left in my garden.

“My son saw it first. When I opened the curtains she was just stood there at the bottom of the garden facing the house.”

Tim’s wife Carol also had a bit of a shock when she returned home from her late shift to find the Virgin Mary greeting her as she stepped out of the car.

“I went to the police station ,but they said they hadn’t had any reports of it being stolen,” Tim added.

“I went to St Mary’s Church in Clayton and the priest said he would ring around.”

Two weeks later St Mary’s church in Sabden, about eight miles away, claimed it.

Father Peter Birmingham, who has now sadly passed away, said: “One of the parishioners noticed that she had gone missing and we had no idea where to.

"This has happened before when a statue was found in a bush in the grounds.

“We looked this time but we couldn’t find her anywhere.

“It was probably a drunk playing a prank as he was walking down the street. We’re right across from the pub and I‘m sure they didn’t have any wrong intentions.

“The statue has no cash value but it means a lot to the church.”