A GIANT flying saucer turned up yesterday among the baboons at Knowsley Safari Park park after disappearing from the home of a village prankster nearly two months ago.
The full-sized steel saucer vanished from the bottom of Bill Gibbons' garden as he celebrated his 45th birthday.
Pals of the arch practical joker from Audlem, near Nantwich, Cheshire, had turned the tables on him and arranged for it to "land" in the safari park.
Mr Gibbons, pictured right, a former council road sweeper, took the flying sauce to local events to raise money for charity.
He was upset when it disappeared, leaving only a black scorch mark on the ground and a note saying it had been taken to teach him a lesson.
One of his pals, Barry Cooke, 26, from Crewe, yesterday admitted he had arranged to have the flying saucer taken to the Merseyside park.
He said: "He has played so many practical jokes on me and other people I thought it was about time we did the same to him.
"The safari park readily agreed to have the saucer in their monkey jungle as an attraction for visitors and for the baboons to play with.
"When I told Billy what we had done he was astonished - his mouth just dropped open."
Mr Gibbons, a bachelor, who recently put his century-old cottage up for sale with a 12ft-long space rocket on the roof, said: "I'm over the moon to be reunited with the flying saucer. I didn't think it had really been stolen but I'd no idea where it had been taken. "I've played so many practical jokes on people I suppose I deserve to have my leg pulled for once."
The flying saucer is expected to stay in Knowsley for several weeks and then Mr Gibbons plans to sell it on behalf of the Christie Hospital, Manchester.
