Dad loses his £2,500 wedding ring in the sea… and incredibly finds it the next day with his son’s £30 metal detector
David Harries spent the next 24 hours trawling the beach and had lost all hope of recovering it
A DAD who lost his £2,500 wedding ring in the sea on his anniversary found it a day later - using his son's £29.95 toy metal detector.
David Harries, 50, from St Albans, Herts, was devastated when the gold band slipped off his finger while he was on holiday in St Ives, Cornwall, with his family celebrating his 12th wedding anniversary.
His wife Anthea, 41, was far from impressed that he'd gone into the sea with it on and spent the next 24 hours reminding him what he'd done.
With that in mind, David spent hours trawling the beach to find the missing ring but began to give up hope of ever finding it again.
But after realising his eight-year-old son Rhys had brought his toy metal detector they got him as a Christmas present on holiday, he decided to give it one last go.
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He said: "I walked about six inches past the channel and I heard a really high pitched screeching from the metal detector.
"There had been other bits of metal I'd picked up on the way, bottle tops, coins, etc. so I wasn't expecting it to be anything.
"I was shocked, I couldn't believe it.
"I shouted to Anthea and said 'Guess what I've found?'
"If I hadn't had walked those extra six inches the wedding ring would have been gone forever."
He added:"There was another family on the beach that had seen my looking the day before and they were all clapping. Anthea said to me 'has it actually happened?'"
David went into the water as part of his rehabilitation from major surgery he had on his right knee in April.
His injury was caused by playing rugby over many years and David had been advised by doctors to swim to aid recovery.
The sea's cold water caused his fingers to shrink, causing the ring to slip off in the shallow water as he removed his wet-suit.
He admitted: "I have already lost my wedding ring once before so I always take off my watch and wedding ring before I go swimming, and it wasn't until I was already in the water that I realised I forgot to take my ring off.
"This was the first time I had gone swimming since a recent knee operation, and swimming is quite a big part of my life, so I was really happy to be in the water again."