Man reunited with £1,100 sapphire engagement ring he lost on Portobello beach moments before proposing

Police contacted Gordon Rae to say the ring had been handed in by a good samaritan.

A London pub landlord has been reunited with an £1,100 sapphire and diamond engagement ring which he lost on Portobello Promenade moments before proposing.

Gordon Rae was carrying the ring loose in his trouser pocket during a 10k walk to the beach spot with his now fiance, Julie Verhelst.

Julie has been reunited with the ring - but it needed to be resized.

Despite checking "what felt like 100 times" before popping the question, he managed to drop it somewhere on the promenade.

But Gordon's prayers were answered when he received a voice message from police a week ago to say someone had handed in the ring - on the same day he'd lost it.

However the ring is already back in the jewellers to be re-sized.

The 31-year-old, who appealed on social media and through a story in the Evening News, said on Monday he was "relieved" the ring had been handed in.

He went on: "Police said the person who handed it in did not want a reward.

"I left a card with my contact details asking the person who found it to get in touch. Police said they will let them know. Hopefully they will get in touch and we can send them some Champagne or something."

Gordon said police told him he would have to come in to the police station in Fettes Avenue to collect the ring and bring photographic ID.

Last Thursday, he travelled north by train from his home in south-west London.

He continued: "When we went back to the jeweller (for the refit) we took a copy of the Evening News article and they seemed pretty taken with the story."

At the time he lost the ring, Gordon said his first thought was to call off the proposal and buy another ring, but decided to go ahead with it while apologising and explaining to Julie what had happened - and she said 'yes.'

Amid the panic, the couple then retraced their footprints along Portobello Beach and stopped in at numerous bars, restaurants and cafes to make staff aware and leave their contact details. They also reported it to local police.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, Gordon said: "The following day, when we were going around restaurants, quite a few people we spoke to were adamant that it would get handed in. They were right."

Possible Edinburgh move

Gordon and his fiancee had been staying with his parents in Penrith with their three-year-old daughter, Margot before visiting Edinburgh for a couple of days in mid January.

The couple met in London about 10 years ago after Julie, 33, moved their after working as an Au pair in Edinburgh for a year. She moved over to the Capital from her home in Lille, France.

They have bee considering a move to Edinburgh in the near future and Gordon thought Portobello Promenade would be a nice place to propose.

Staff at their hotel, the Eden Locke apartments in George Street, had recommended the walk down to Portobello Promenade and Gordon decided it was the right time and place to pop the question.

At the time he said: "I got it up to Cumbria and to Edinburgh without any drama and I had been keeping it loose in my pocket because I didn't want her to see a box. I must have checked what felt like 100 times before I realised it was missing."

Gordon shared his appeal in local Facebook groups including Lost & Found - Edinburgh and the Lothians. In an updated post he thanked everyone for sharing appeal.