WHEN great-grandmother Pauline Payne lost the gold ring given to her by her late daughter she thought it was gone for good.

But against the odds, the jewellery has been found and returned to the 75-year-old. Now she has spoken of her thanks to the man who handed it in.

“I’m over the moon to have it back,” said Pauline.

The pensioner lost the gold ring when she visited Walcot Community Shop three weeks ago. It has great sentimental value to her, having been bought for her by her daughter Annette before she died of bladder cancer.

Ryan Brown, who frequently visits the charity shop to buy toys for one of his daughters, found the ring in a bag of recent purchases.

Pauline said: “Just to know that there are people around like that.

“I mean he could have easily kept it, but he handed it back.

“And I just can’t thank him enough,” said Pauline who now has 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Ryan described the moment he found the ring.

“I emptied the toys on the table and the ring fell out,” said the quality engineer from Toothill.

“It was only small and it said ‘mum’ on it, so I thought perhaps it was a child’s ring,” he said.

“I gave it to the little one and she put it in her jewellery box. I really thought nothing of it,” said the father of two.

Pauline put up posters in both the shop and the others in Sussex Square, asking for the ring to be returned if anyone found it.

And after going back to the store, Ryan saw the posters describing the ring and immediately made the connection with the one he had found.

“When I saw the notes, my heart went out to her straightaway,” he said.

Ryan returned the ring to the shop’s staff when he visited again.

“You can’t put a price on sentimental value, so I’m very happy that she got it back.

“It’s a great end to the story and I’m sure anyone else would have done the same,” said Ryan.

Pauline’s daughter Annette had bought the ring for her mum seven years ago, when she received the news she was going to die.

“When she made me next of kin to her own children, she said ‘mum I want you to have something before I die.’

“So she took me to Argos, and bought me that ring,” said Pauline, who has a granddaughter called Jasmine.

“I was just crying my eyes out when I realised I had lost it.

“It means such a lot to me,” she said

“It’s only little but it has so much sentimental value to me,” Pauline, from Walcot, added.