Metal detectorist dubbed 'Lord of the Rings' makes his 200th find
A metal detectorist, known as the 'Lord of the Rings' for his knack of finding lost jewellery and returning it to its rightful owners, has made his 200th discovery.
Darren Wiles spends his free time searching beaches and diving into the sea to find misplaced treasures like rings, earrings, watches and more. Some of his most touching finds include a ring containing a younger brother's ashes and two wedding rings that belonged to a late mother and grandmother.
The 51-year-old from Bournemouth, Dorset, has even found car keys and a mobile phone that still worked after being underwater for a week. He often visits the beach in the middle of the night to take advantage of the best tidal conditions for his searches. His 199th find was a sentimental skull ring lost at a beach event in Poole, and his 200th was a fancy knife a woman lost while preparing food for her dog.
Darren started metal detecting in 2009 and created a website in 2014 to help recover lost items. He said: "When I first set up the website I never thought I would get anyone wanting to use it but I started getting the odd phone call and it just grew from there. Now I get tagged in everything on Facebook and it's more than just a hobby, it's become a community service.
Darren Wiles and Rob Wolf reunited with his wedding ring on the beach at Sandbanks (Max Willcock/BNPS)"But I do it because I love it. It is a great feeling to make people happy and see the reaction when people are reunited with something they have an emotional connection to. I've had a lot of memorable finds over the years. I don't remember the names of everyone, but I know every story."
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His highlight was reuniting Jordan Jenkins with a lost ring containing his younger brother Owen's ashes on Bournemouth beach. Owen had died at the age of 12 in 2017 while trying to save two girls from drowning in Nottinghamshire. Darren found the irreplaceable ring within ten minutes of searching.
He said: "I can't imagine getting a more emotional one than that. A woman lost her late mother and grandmother's wedding rings while swimming and she was so glad I found them in 4ft of water 20ft apart. I'm not always successful, when I go searching I always try not to be too hopeful, otherwise you just get disappointed.
"Last summer I had a lady who was hit by waves at Southbourne which pulled her on the sharp pebbles. She had to go to A&E with cuts and bruises and she lost her wedding and engagement rings after her husband had died six months earlier. I found her wedding ring but I couldn't find the other one, I've tried a few times so that one is still ongoing but she was so happy she got at least one back."
Metal detectorist Darren Wiles (Darren Wiles/BNPS)Darren has reunited off-duty policeman Jason Campbell with his wedding ring, which he lost in the sea while on holiday in Poole. PC Campbell spent an hour diving to the bottom of the seabed trying to find it before he was forced to give up. But dedicated Darren worked out when there would be a neap tide - meaning the sea would be as far out as possible - and headed out at 3.30am and found the lost ring within an hour.
Simon Wood had to wait eight months to be reunited with his wedding ring. He lost it on an inflatable course at a seawater lido and had to wait until it was drained before the new season so Darren and his metal detector could hunt for it. He found it after two hours, buried in the shingle floor.
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