how would one go about attaching an item mesh to the correct part of a character i.e attaching a sword to the characters hand or a shield to the forearm. Any and all help is appreciated and please be as detailed as possible as im still new, thanks in advance 
You need to add a socket to you character’s skeletal mesh. When your animation reaches the correct time, attach the weapon to the socket with the Attach Actor To Component node.
Thanks for the help How would this work for differeing body types i.e if I have 2 separately sized models 1 for an elf and 1 for a dwarf, would I have to resize the items mesh to accommodate or would it work automatically?
You can set the scale of a socket, and when you attach the mesh make sure you include snap to target for scale.