Woman who lost engagement ring 140 miles from home in Milton Keynes finds it buried 16 months later

A woman from Yorkshire who lost her engagement ring in Newport Pagnell had the perfect Christmas present when she found it more than a year later with the aid of a metal detector.
Debbie and John Newton from Yorkshire found her engagement ring lost nearly a year and a half ago which they miraculously found with a borrowed metal detector. Photo: Sean StewartDebbie and John Newton from Yorkshire found her engagement ring lost nearly a year and a half ago which they miraculously found with a borrowed metal detector. Photo: Sean Stewart
Debbie and John Newton from Yorkshire found her engagement ring lost nearly a year and a half ago which they miraculously found with a borrowed metal detector. Photo: Sean Stewart

Debbie lost her engagement ring during the Civil War re-enactment in Newport Pagnell on the Bank Holiday event on August 29, 2016, but didn’t realise it was missing until the journey back home to Rawcliffe in Yorkshire.

She travelled 140 miles from her hometown back to Newport Pagnell twice so that should could look for the engagement ring.

Returning to the town where she pretended to be an artillery officer in charge of a large cannon 16 months after the precious ring had been lost, 61-year-old Debbie Newton didn’t hold out much hope of ever finding the treasure.

The ringThe ring
The ring

She had taken the ring off to put in her purse for safe keeping during the display.

A return visit a month later to look proved unsuccessful, and although they bought a replacement ring during a trip to New York, they returned in December with a friend and his metal detector, determined to find the original.

But she was shocked when she and her husband John dug the ring up just minutes before they were to give up after a fruitless two-and-a-half hour search.

“It’s just staggering,” she said.

The ringThe ring
The ring

“I had a hunch where it was, but when we first went over that bit with the detector nothing pinged.

“We were about to leave and I thought we would give it another go.

“I’m glad we did.”

“I was getting ready to accept it was gone,” she added.

“Nobody thought we would find it. Now I have two, and I’ll be making sure I keep them both safe.”

She explained a ring is supposed to ping twice when picked up by a metal detector. However, because the ring was lodged upright, it only pinged once. They still decided to dig it up - luckily.