I lost £17,000 life savings after I donated my sofa and forgot I stashed cash inside… I’m begging buyer to give it back

A PENSIONER has lost his life savings of £17,000 after he donated a sofa forgetting he had hidden the cash inside.

The man has issued a desperate plea to find the buyer and has even offered a reward, hoping to retrieve part of the money.

The pensioner, from Queensland, Australia, decided to donate the leather sofa when he was about to undergo a renovation to his house.

The man was planning to sell his house and downsize so he thought he'd get rid of the sofa, which was part of a set of five.

While he knew he had stashed his life savings between the cushions of a sofa, he thought it was in fact one of the pieces he was keeping.

";I didn’t even think about it for a few weeks. It wasn’t on my radar," he told .

The man has been desperately trying to locate the sofa but to no avail.

After contacting the shop he donated it to, he discovered the sofa was sold within a couple of days and picked up- making it impossible to track down the buyer.

The pensioner said: "I think the bit that really hurts is that I’ve done this to myself, and I can’t believe how bloody stupid I was, honestly.

"I really did have to stop and say, ‘You’re human, you made a mistake, if you don’t repeat it you’ve learned a valuable lesson — and an expensive one.

"I’ll move on. It just hurts."

He has even made a post online offering a reward, hoping he might recover some of his cash.

He added: "If I get a portion back, I’ll be happy. But I think it’s gone.

"There are a lot of people in dire need. Maybe it’ll transform someone’s life."