A man has been trying to recover four of his beloved Persian rugs after they were accidentally donated to a charity and then sold.

Philip Wood, 42, from Cambridge, collected three of the rugs while he was in the Middle East, and the fourth was a gift from his late father.

Mr Wood used the rugs to play games such as “the floor is lava” while running a youth group at a church.

He said he had thought the rugs were left in a safe place when someone decided to donate them to homeless charity Emmaus.

“It was a sad mistake, really. They were taken without my permission from what should have been a safe place,” he said.

“It was done without malice but it is just very upsetting.

“They were stored at the back of a church, and I was using them for a youth group.”

A warden at St John the Evangelist Church on Hills Road donated them to the Emmaus shop in Landbeach.

“They have great sentimental value to me,” said Mr Wood.

“I collected them in the Middle East in my 20s and one was a gift to me from my late father – so they are very dear to me.

“They are memories of my travels, and I would really love to have them back.

“I can reimburse [the buyer] whatever they spent.”