Good Samaritan in Harborough reunites elderly man with a cherished gold ring he’s owned for over 50 years in a million to one coincidence

A Good Samaritan has reunited a stunned elderly man with a cherished gold ring he’s owned for over 50 years in a million to one coincidence.

Edwina Carson, 49, rescued the lost battered signet band after finding it in the Tesco car park in Market Harborough town centre.

And amazingly she handed it over to the shell-shocked 74-year-old man two days later after going to his aid in the same car park.

Edwina, of Logan Street, Market Harborough, said: “Talk about a million to one and a needle in a haystack!

“I am just so pleased and relieved that against all the odds I could give this man his beloved ring back.

“It really is an incredible story.”

The mum-of-two recovered the invaluable ring after finishing her shopping one Tuesday afternoon.

“I was walking through the car park by Tesco.

“I happened to look down and spotted the gold cignet ring lying there in the rain,” said Edwina.

“It was a bit squishy, as if a car had reversed over it.

“I put it in my pocket and took it home to keep it safe.

“I knew someone would be missing it badly.

“I posted it up on the Market Harborough Coronavirus Facebook page and my Facebook page to try to track down the owner.”

The former Harborough Mail receptionist didn’t hear anything.

But the bizarre, jawdropping twist in the astonishing tale came just 48 hours later.

“I nipped back to Tesco with my son Aaron, who’s 20, on another shopping trip.

“We noticed an old boy struggling to get his mobility scooter out of his car boot.

“So we went over to give him a hand,” said big-hearted Edwina, who now works in Blend’s coffee shop on Manor Walk, Market Harborough.

“We got talking and he told us very sadly that he’d lost his ring there a few days earlier.

“He was upset and seemed very down about it.

“The gentleman said he’d been given the ring for his 18th birthday – and he was now 74.

“So he’d had it for 56 years and it obviously meant the world to him.

“I asked him to describe it – and he did perfectly.

“I told him I’d found his ring there just two days before!

“He couldn’t believe it, he was almost lost for words.”

Edwina, who’s also got a younger son, Sam, 16, said the pensioner had popped over to shop in Market Harborough from his home in Broughton Astley.

“So I suggested that we both do our shopping and then I dashed home to get his ring.

“I took it back and gave it back to him,” she said.

“The look on his face was priceless – it was quite emotional.

“He couldn’t slip it back on his finger because it was damaged – but it’s definitely repairable.

“He didn’t tell me his name and didn’t say how he’d lost it.

“I can only think it had fallen off his finger.

“He was so happy and grateful because he feared it was lost for ever and he never thought he’d see it again.

“I’m just so pleased that I could reunite him with his lovely ring and put a smile back on his face.

“We’ve all been through a hard few months.

“So it’s great to be able to do something so positive for a fellow human being.

“And we all need to read genuinely good news stories like this every now and again at this difficult time above all other.”

If you are the man who has now got his ring back please contact us on 01858 419204 or [email protected] to tell us your amazing story.