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A lifelong fan of rock legend Patti Smith has been describing the moment she returned personal items to her hero that had originally been stolen 36 years ago.

Speaking to Â鶹Éç Radio 5 live's Dotun Adebayo on Up All Night, Noreen Bender said she decided to seize the moment when Patti Smith was in Chicago for a book signing: "This was the first time I thought I could actually get them to her."

Among the effects were an iconic T-shirt featuring Keith Richards that Smith wore for a Rolling Stone cover shoot, and a bandana belonging to her late brother.

"I was very nervous" said Noreen. "I had my good friends with me...they said it might go bad. I said it doesn't matter, I have to do it"

"I stood up shaking and said 'I have some of your clothes from 40 years ago'... she looked shocked, she just waved her hands and said 'Bring it up here'."

Describing the emotional moment when she took the items up to Patti Smith - "She was shaking and I was shaking" - Noreen says Smith was gracious and clearly delighted to see her belongings again. "She said 'I'm infinitely grateful' ... all I wanted was for her to get it back."

A tearful Noreen described how other fans at the event demanded to know how the items - "a secret treasure" - came into her possession - "I felt like I was in a lynch mob"

Noreen told Dotun Adebayo that suspicions were raised because the items were originally stolen by another party "but I don't know anything about that.... I had no bad intentions ever in mind"

And she said returning Smith's possessions has brought her a sense of peace: "I could never have dreamed it would end after all this time, the way it did, at a perfect time and a perfect moment. Even though it may be forty years too late, at least it happened."

This clip is originally from Up All Night on Saturday 17 October 2015

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