The wreckage of the Brecon MRT vehicle after the September crash

A writer of a series of thriller novels has chipped in with a donation to help replace a mountain rescue vehicle that was written off in a road crash.

Lee Child, author of the Reacher novels, has given Brecon Mountain Rescue Team £10,000 towards their £60,000 target for a new control vehicle.

The Coventry-born, New York-based writer, whose real name is Jim Grant, has family connections with the team.

The cash will go towards the replacement of the vehicle that was wrecked in a crash while responding to an incident last September.

The control vehicle is used to coordinate searches for missing people across south and mid-Wales.

Jack Reacher, the central character in 16 books written by Lee Child, is a former US military police officer turned vigilante, will be played by Tom Cruise in a film planned for release in the near future.

Mark Jones from Brecon MRT said: “We are very grateful to Mr Reacher. He is a character who is known across the globe and has helped us out in our hour of need.

Lee Child. Photo: Mark Coggins

“So many people from all walks of life have come forward to help in this fundraising campaign. It’s been a mammoth job for us as we don’t just need to raise this money, but also continue fundraising for our team’s operational costs as we are totally dependent on donations.

“We’ve still got £20,000 to go to reach our target so we would appeal to anyone who has been helped in the past by our members, or regularly walks in the mountains around Brecon and Mid Wales, to think of us; every penny helps.”

Former television director Mr Child has sold more than 40 million copies of his books worldwide.