IT is a detective story with a difference, involving a distraught medical student, a £9,000 diamond ring, a rescue mission to Majorca - and a 75-year-old Newport-born hero.

When Katie Patterson's ring, passed down through three generations of her family, slipped from her grasp and into the sandy depths of a Majorcan bay during a holiday last week, she was inconsolable.

Desperate to retrieve it, the 24-year-old - a medical student in the north of England - began to seek specialist help, and happened upon Newport-based underwater metal detection company Aquascan International.

"And they put her on to me," said George Edmunds, who was born in High Cross, and lived in Newport until retiring to Weymouth in Dorset in 2000.

A former design draughtsman, sales manager, and owner of his own business before he retired, Mr Edmunds has also been a diving instructor, and a wreck diver, as well as an underwater detector.

"The owner of Aquascan International is an old friend of mine and knowing that I specialised in underwater detecting, he passed Katie's message on," said Mr Edmunds.

"Over the years I've found hundreds of rings, necklaces, earrings, brooches and other items, many in the Mediterranean.

"Katie commissioned me and we flew out to Majorca.

"The ring is platinum with three large diamonds. She was distraught at having lost it and for her the sentimental value far exceeded its monetary worth.

"She'd been in the water and said she'd felt it coming loose, so she tried to transfer it to a bigger finger but lost it."

Ms Patterson lost the ring in five feet of water. Back in the bay she stood as close as she could remember to where she thought the incident occurred, and Mr Edmunds went to work with his underwater equipment.

"When something like that hits the sand at the bottom, it just gets sucked under," said Mr Edmunds.

"It took me just under an hour to find it. Being a platinum ring band, it wasn't easy as the contact signal is not as clear as for gold or silver.

"I also found a handful of coins and a diamond eternity ring.

"The look on Katie's face when I showed her her ring was a picture, and worth all the effort.

"There was lots of joyful sobbing and hugging, it was quite emotional."

Mr Edmunds is also an author, who has researched and written extensively about pirate/privateer Captain William Kidd and his fabled treasure. His new book on the subject - Anson’s Gold and the Secret to Captain Kidd’s Charts - is out later this month.