Metal detectorist finds Sway man's lost wedding ring on Avon Beach

A METAL detectorist came to the rescue of a devastated husband who lost his specially made wedding ring in the sea.

David Mold only realised the band was missing while at his home in Sway hours after he had returned from a day at Avon Beach, Christchurch, on Saturday with his wife and four children.

He told the A&T: “I looked all over the house and garden. Then I realised I had probably lost it at the beach.

“When I told my wife Katy she was so upset. Her father actually made it and hers, so it was of huge sentimental value and made from a very rare metal.”

Katy decided to put a call out on social media in the hope someone might find it.

David admitted: “I thought, ‘That’s a waste of time'.”

But to his surprise his appeal was answered by metal detectorist Darren Wiles who runs the Bournemouth Metal Detecting Club.

He was even more surprised when less than two hours after Darren went out searching he received a text message with a picture of a ring, saying: “Is this it?”

A delighted David, an event manager, said: “I just couldn’t believe it. When I told Katy she burst into tears.

"All I can say is not all superheroes come in capes.

“Darren was absolutely amazing. He even insisted on coming to my house to give it to me.

“He wouldn’t take a penny. I can’t thank him enough. What he does is marvellous.”

The wedding ring is one of 22 that Darren has found for delighted owners, along with keys, phones, jewellery, and other objects on the beach, in gardens, parks and in fields.

Darren said: “I often get alerted if someone has lost something. I always help if I can.

"This time I sent David a google map of the area with some numbers on and asked him to pinpoint where he had been.

“I set out at 6am and found it by 7.30am. I actually found the ring in the sea past the groyne opposite the Noisy Lobster. David had been paddle-boarding so it must have slipped off then.”

Dylan uses a Minelab Equinox 870 detector. One of the recent jobs he did was to find a set of keys that had been lost in a garden in New Milton.

He said: “People can contact me through the Bournemouth Metal Detecting Club group Facebook page. My biggest reward is seeing peoples’ joy when I find their missing stuff.”