A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy from Bradford has successfully raised over £2,400 for charity after his generous and heart-warming campaign came to a conclusion last week.

Dev Patel, from Wilsden, grew his hair over lockdown and had it cut earlier this month to raise money for the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides real hair wigs to children who have lost their own due to cancer.

Dev raised £2,441 for the charity and has even donated his own hair to be used as a wig.

His mother, Priya Patel, said the campaign has been an “overwhelming experience” and will be a “great memory” for Dev as he grows up.

“Dev has done an amazing job and we are so happy for him”, she added.

“People have asked us ‘are you Dev’s parents?’ and ‘was that your little boy in the paper?' - we are really proud of him.

“Other parents have texted me and said how strong he was to persevere, and that what he’s done must have taken a lot of courage.

“It costs £550 to make one wig, so we know the Little Princess Trust will be able to make at least four from the money raised.”

Priya added that Dev is not finished just yet, and has his sights set on doing even more.

“He now wants to restart growing his hair, and we said let’s see!”, she said.

“It took him two-and-a-half years to grow his hair last time. We’ve always told him that we support whatever he wants to do.”

Dev added that he was proud of his achievements, and also thanked everyone who donated.

“I feel happy. It was fun and exciting, because I didn’t know when I was going to cut my hair exactly”, he said.

“I was going to cut it in July at first, but then I thought it was already really long, so I shouldn’t wait until then.

“I feel happy to have helped people who are less fortunate. I think even if something is hard, you should still try to do it.

“I got a lot of support from people when I started the campaign, but I get quite shy when there’s loads of people. It has taken a lot of strength.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure if I will re-grow my hair for charity again, but I am thinking about it.

“I want to say thank you to everybody who sponsored me for their support!”