Basketball champion reunited with ring stolen from Darwin family home

A stolen world championship ring, won by Australian wheelchair basketball player Tom O'Neill-Thorne, has been found by Northern Territory Police and returned to its rightful owner.

Thieves broke in to his family home in Darwin in January last year, ransacking the house and stealing the invaluable accolade, along with his mother's engagement ring and other possessions.

At the time, the family pleaded on 9NEWS for the ring's return, which has his name emblazoned on the side and is covered in jewels.

They had begun to lose hope but on Monday night, police spotted a 51-year-old man leaving a Palmerston house with known drug connections.

Sergeant Robert Overall said officers stopped and searched the man, finding a large machete and several items of jewellery, including the championship ring.

"I couldn't believe it, I was just over the moon," said Tom's mother, Janelle.

"I rang (my husband) straight away and said go out and make sure that's what they've got."

The ring remains completely intact and the family plan to have it polished before O'Neill-Thorne returns home from playing in Spain's wheelchair basketball league next month.

"It's a little bit rugged around the edges, looks like it's been rolling around in the back of someone's ute," said his father Rob O'Neill-Thorne.

The family praised police for their efforts and are now urging others to always report stolen property.

"We encouraged everybody afterwards to desperately take photos of their valuables because we didn't have photos of everything," said Janelle.

"In that terrible, worst-case scenario, you'll actually have a copy of what you owned."