Missing ring found: Merthyr Tydfil mother reunited with son's ashes

A woman says she is "over the moon" after being reunited with a lost ring that contains her son's ashes.

Laura Rees, 33, from Merthyr Tydfil, was devastated when she realised it was missing after visiting shops on Monday.

She said she "just sobbed" when a woman contacted her on social media on Tuesday night to say she had found the ring in the retail centre's car park.

Mrs Rees and her husband Leon lost their son Fletcher when she was 20 weeks pregnant on 22 August last year.

The couple, who have an eight-week old son and three-year-old daughter, were told their baby had posterior urethral valves (PUV) and the pregnancy was unviable.

She said losing the ring had hit her hard: "I felt like I'd failed him all over again," she said.

"I felt like my heart had broken all over again.

"It is coming up to the anniversary and I thought 'this is going to make it even harder'."

It is their daughter's fourth birthday on Thursday and on her last birthday they had just been told the pregnancy was not viable.

"I spent her last birthday trying to hold it together and I didn't want to be upset on her birthday again after being so upset last year... now I can enjoy her birthday," she said.

On Monday, Mrs Rees dropped her daughter at creche before going shopping in Merthyr Tydfil and then in Pontypridd.

The first time she realised she was not wearing her ring was in a supermarket in Pontypridd after going to take it off to wash her hands.

After searching the area she assumed she had left it at home.

But when she returned home and "pulled the house apart" looking for it it was nowhere to be seen.

"I rang my husband, frantic," she said.

"I was hysterical."

She returned to the supermarket: "The staff were so amazing, they offered me water and tried to keep me calm, the staff were on their hands and knees. They were so good."

But still the ring was not found.

She posted an appeal on Facebook that prompted many comments, shares and people sending her messages to wish her luck in finding it.

Then at about 23:00 BST on Tuesday another message came through: "I thought to myself 'it is just another person saying I hope you find it' but it was a lady who said 'I've found your ring'.

"She sent me a photo and I just sobbed," she said.

"She lives up the road from me so we went straight over there."

She said the ring was "a little bit damaged but hopefully nothing that can't be replaced - the stone with the ashes is intact".

She now believes she dropped the ring while in the car park in Merthyr Tydfil, after taking it off to prepare a bottle for her baby.

"I can't express how grateful I am to everyone who shared my post on Facebook and the staff in the retail park," she said.

"I can't begin to thank the lady [who found the ring] enough.

"I offered her a reward but she said she didn't want my money, she was just glad I had the ring back."