A reporter played leap year cupid for a South Wales love bird who used her local newspaper to pop the big question.

Natasha Williams wanted to surprise her boyfriend Lawrence James by proposing - so she chose the pages of the Echo to make a play for his affections.

He was suitably stunned when a reporter turned up with the paper.

She took advantage of the leap year date to ask her man for his hand in marriage.

But rather than simply drop to one knee, she decided to put her faith in the Echo, which organised for one of the first copies of Saturday's paper to be taken hot off the press to salesman Lawrence's Citroen showroom.

The tradition is said to date back to St Patrick and St Bridget in 5th Century Ireland, when women could only make marriage proposals in leap years. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was tightened to restrict female proposals to February 29.

And, of course, Lawrence said "yes".

Natasha said: "I think he felt a lot of pressure about how to propose to me so I thought I would take the pressure off him. I'm delighted. I was so nervous before."

James said: "She beat me to it.

"I had ordered a ring and I was going to propose to her when we go away on holiday in April. This was a special way to do it though."

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