Police retrieve £40k after OAP threw out mattress with it sewn in

A pensioner in Italy threw out her old mattress only to remember afterwards that she had sewn her life savings into it. 

The woman from Montebelluna near Trevio called the police once she realised her mistake, telling them that she had carefully cut open and stuffed €50,000 (£41,500) in cash into it before sewing it shut.

But the pensioner, described to be in her 80s, forget she had done so and thrown the mattress out.

'She was rather distraught when she rang to ask our help, explaining she had remembered the mattress was full of money a few hours after she had it taken away,' according to a police official who spoke to the Times. 

The official also said that the woman was 'clearly' distrustful of banks and 'afraid of thieves', which led to her decision to hide her savings in her mattress.

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Police and local officials worked together to locate the woman's mattress, and found it at the local tip 30 minutes after arriving at the site - with all the money still inside. 

The officer said the mattress would have been destroyed at the tip had it not been found in time. 

'She was overjoyed when we found it. It looked as if she was ten years younger when she got the news,' the police official added. 

The woman asked police not to release her name to the public now that she has her life savings back. 

The police official said the woman's distrust in the bank was 'common among older people'. 

Cash was long the preferred way to pay for Italians, who are now reluctantly shifting to card payments - but a recent survey showed that 37 per cent still prefer to use cash for purchases.