Edinburgh couple reunited with wedding ring lost on Hebridean beach

Daryll Leslie with the ring after it was returned.

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Daryll Leslie, 31, married wife Carey, 37, on September 28 2019 and the couple spent a day handmaking each other's rings.

But the gold band slipped off when Daryll went for a dip with a pal on a beach at the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, on September 4.

Ring bearer: Stephen MacLeod used his metal detector to make the discovery.

He only spent 20 minutes in the water but due to a condition, Raynaud's, which restricts blood flow in cold water, the ring slipped off.

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Carey, who works as a life skills co-ordinator, was away on a spa weekend with friends so Daryll pretended nothing had happened although he eventually told her.

He used social media to try to track down the ring - which was found by Stephen MacLeod, 31, who lives on the island.

Daryll Leslie and wife Carey Leslie designing the wedding band.

Stephen arranged for it to be delivered in person in Edinburgh to the couple and it arrived on their second wedding anniversary.

Daryll, an interior designer, said: "We decided to swim in this little cove which was really beautiful.

"As we were walking back to the car, I realised I didn't have my wedding ring.

"My fingers shrink in the cold. I looked at my hand and I was gutted.

Daryll used a rake to try and find the ring himself.

"It's kind of a material thing, but it's even more important because me and my wife spent a day making each others' wedding rings. It's not easily replaceable.

"It's not like I could go into H. Samuel to pick another one out.

"Carey messaged me asking how are things and I said 'Great, couldn't be better."

He added: "We were swimming in this cove so we had a rectangle we knew we had been swimming in.

Daryll and his pals before the fateful swim on the Lewis beach.

"We knew we didn't go past those rocks on either side so we could narrow it down slightly.

"If it had just been on the beach there would be no way we could have found it."

Painter and decorator Stephen thought it was unlikely he would manage to find the lost ring despite previously uncovering a hoard of coins from the reign of Henry III and a coin from George III's rule.

READ MORE: Lost wedding ring returned to husband after appeal by Midlothian recycling centre

He said: "We were looking for over an hour and there was nothing happening.

"I thought it was long gone, even while we were looking, we didn't really expect to find it.

Smiles all round for Daryll and wife Carey.

"Once I got the signal, it came up on my machine saying it had found gold and I knew straight away before I started digging that was it.

"I mostly detect on crofts and fields, I rarely do beaches.

"I would have thought the tide would have taken it out.

"It was an amazing feeling."

The ring may now be sent to a jewellers to be resized to avoid it slipping off again.

Daryll said: "It was a nice surprise and we hadn't even planned it."

Carey said: "I didn't think there was any chance we would get it back.

"I was really over the moon when it was found because I knew Daryll would be so happy.

"What a lovely thing to do, to go out and look for it for someone you don't know."

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