A GROUP of metal detectorists put a father of three from Kington Langley out of his misery after they reunited him with his long lost wedding ring, which he lost in a field earlier this month.

Warren Burgess, who had been given the ring 13 years ago by his wife Claire, said he was filled with dread when he realised that the ring, which he had placed into his pocket while washing his hands at the Moors on July 7, had disappeared.

"My eldest son Harry is in his final year at Langley Fitzurse School so they had a leavers camp out and I took my ring off and put it in my pocket to wash my hands before helping with the barbecue but I forgot to put it back on and my pocket had a hole in it," the 47-year-old said. "After a while I went to climb back into my tent when I realised it was like a deep, dark, horrible feeling that it was in a field somewhere."

Despite desperate attempts to find it, Mr Burgess was unsuccessful so he enrolled the help of the Chippenham Metal Detector Club, who turned out almost in their entirety to put the Telecoms worker at ease.

"Myself and a colleague came out went on Wednesday as he was fairly confident that he lost it in a particular area and I thought it would be simple but it wasn't," the club's chair Terry Kearton said. "I went back to our group meeting on Thursday and asked if any of the members would like to help and all but three said they would so on Sunday (July 16) we all went down and worked along a grid reference system where the area was split into four sections."

Enthusiast Andrew Harrison from Melksham found the ring after hours of searching and the 37-year-old said he was delighted to be able to put a smile back on Mr Burgess' face. "It was brilliant. It set off a clear signal and I looked down and could see it glistening below. It was really good to be able to give it back to Warren even though it was my first gold find."

Mr Burgess added: I was so relieved and so was my wife. I think it would have been a different story had I lost it when I was out with my mates!"