A newly-wed man is jumping for joy - after a metal detectorist from Sandbach Heath found the wedding ring he thought he had lost in the guinea pig sawdust and hay.

Metal detectorist, Iain Borthwick, came to the rescue after a relative asked him to step in and help a local man find his wedding ring which was only four weeks' old.

Iain, who lives on the Persimmons' Homes' development in Sandbach Heath, is used to finding all sorts of items on his searches, from ancient rings and ornaments but this time he was tasked with finding something much newer.

Jonny Masters, who lives in Alsager, had only been married for four weeks when he accidentally lost his ring.

He searched high and low for the ring but to no avail so his husband Alex put a post on a local Social Media page in case someone had found it and picked it up for safekeeping.

Metal detector Iain serached through the bags of straw. (Photo: Iain Borthwick)

Iain, an avid metal detectorist in his spare time said: "I was more than happy to go and help.

"We did a search of the garden and found nothing then cleared out the straw and hay from the guinea pig hutches into black bin liners. On the second bag, we got a clear signal and there was the ring."

Jonny said: "I couldn't believe it. I was watching TV and looked down at my hand to see my shiny wedding ring was missing.

"I went into the garden and searched through the hutches, knowing that a search in the dark, even with a torch, would not be much good.

"I then retraced my steps around the block and found nothing. I searched the car. Nothing. The search was fruitless. I called the hospital where we had been and it wasn't in their lost property."

The long lost wedding ring was found in a bag of straw. (Photo: Iain Borthwick)

He said: "I couldn't believe it. I was watching TV and looked down at my hand to see my shiny wedding ring was missing.

"I went into the garden and searched through the hutches, knowing that a search in the dark, even with a torch, would not be much good.

"I then retraced my steps around the block and found nothing. I searched the car. Nothing. The search was fruitless. I called the hospital where we had been and it wasn't in their lost property.

"I retraced steps outside and I also sifted through the dirty guinea pig sawdust and hay again. I found nothing."

(Photo: Iain Borthwick)

Jonny is delighted to be reunited with his ring following his September 23rd wedding.

He said: "Iain suggested I empty the hutches into bin bags so that he could check them after checking the garden. "He waved over the second bin bag and there was a distinctive beep.

"In the bag we were holding, was my ring. I couldn't believe it – I'd found my lost ring."

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