TRACEY EMIN’S stolen tiny bird sculpture, which had perched outside Liverpool’s Cathedral, has been returned in a padded envelope.

The artist’s sparrow-sized work, which sat on a four-metre pole, was snapped from its legs at the end of last week.

But, two days after a Daily Post appeal for its safe return, the bird has been returned.

Following an anonymous tip-off, a package was recovered from the undergrowth next to the pole early yesterday morning.

Addressed “FAO Tracey Emin: URGENT!” the copper bird was wrapped in newspaper containing our original story and a handwritten note saying sorry.

Written in the handwriting of a child, the pencilled note said: “We are sorry – no harm meant.

“We would have returned it sooner but we were scared.”

Emin had appealed for her “little bird” to be returned, labelling the theft a selfish act which was a “crime and an insult to the city of Liverpool”.

But, on hearing the news yesterday, she said: “I’m really, really happy that my little bird has been returned and it will be back home where it belongs, to be enjoyed by all the people of Liverpool who love it as much as I do.

“Although it was wrong to have taken it, whoever returned it was very brave."

Staff at the Cathedral welcomed the homecoming ahead of Emin’s visit to the city in the autumn. Eryl Parry, director of hospitality at the cathedral, said: “We’re delighted that it’s been returned.

“The question now is what happens to the bird to secure its future? Discussions need to take place into making it secure whilst still attracting visitors.”

The bird was part of Roman Standard, a £60,000 piece commissioned by the BBC which attracted criticism as a waste of licence payers money.

Emin said that the sculpture was meant as a symbol of “faith, hope and spirituality” and unveiled it herself in 2005 as part of the art05 festival and Capital of Culture.

laurasharpe