A METAL detectorist has recovered a husband's wedding ring from the bottom of the sea.

Dan Cross, 42, lost the gold band when it slipped from his finger while playing in the water with his two young children.

The 42-year-old was devastated when he realised what had happened and his wife of six years, Shenay, was reduced to tears afterwards.

After making several unsuccessful attempts to dive down and find the ring, which involved borrowing his six-year-old daughter's goggles, Dan contacted a metal detectorist for help the next day.

That evening expert Richard Higham met Dan on the beach at Southbourne and spent several hours scouring the seabed in 5ft of water with his £1,000 waterproof device.

After an extensive search, and with darkness setting in, the tool finally picked up a signal and Richard was able to scoop up the ring using a tool similar to a sieve.

Dan, a heating engineer, was overcome by emotion when the ring was finally found.

He said: "I am still in shock and can’t believe he actually found my wedding ring in five feet of water like a needle in a haystack.

"I was completely relieved, it was very emotional. I had a tear in my eye and when I rang my wife she cried too, we're just so thankful."

Dan said that he had felt the ring slide from his finger as he ran into the waves but had been unable to prevent it from sinking.

After several fruitless attempts to dive down he was forced to go home and accept that the ring was lost - much to the despair of his wife.

It was not until the next day that the ring was eventually found after a search that lasted over two hours.

Although the incident had occurred in just 5ft of water, it had been 'swallowed up' by soft sand, making it incredibly difficult to locate.

Richard, who has been a detectorist for several years, refused to take any payment and only asked for his travel costs to be covered.

Dan commented: "Although the water was not that deep I just couldn't find the ring.

"Even with my daughter's goggles on I couldn't see anything and thought I'd lost it forever.

"My wife was not happy and was in floods of tears so I'm just so relieved it's been found.

"Richard wouldn't take a penny for his work other than travel costs and he has restored my faith in humanity."

Richard, 50, from Bournemouth, said: "The poor bloke got so emotional when I found the ring, he was blubbering like a baby.

"It was so lucky we found it because soft sand in that area tends to just swallow things up.

"Literally the only signal I got was to find the ring so I'm just pleased I was able to put a smile on his face."