A DISTRAUGHT woman had given up hope of ever seeing the £2,500 diamond she lost from her engagement ring...until her husband found it against the odds.

Wendy Roberts had a enjoyed a party at the Royal Hotel, Southend, on Saturday night but it wasn’t until the next day her nine-year-old daughter Eden pointed out the diamond was missing from the precious ring.

Wendy, 41, made a distraught call to her husband Tony before launching a frantic search of her home. Nothing. Despairing that she would ever see it again, she thought his suggestion of searching the hotel would be totally futile.

However, to everyone’s astonishment, he found the gem in a corner of a corridor even though hotel staff had thoroughly cleaned the venue.

A relieved Wendy said: “There were more than 100 people at the Virtigo party event in the function room and basement of the hotel. “I had no idea the stone had gone until Eden looked at me in shock the next day and said it was missing. “We all searched the house and looked on the drive among the stones.

“Tony said he was going to look in the hotel but I said it wasn’t going to be there. I could have lost it while I was walking to the car in the High Street or it could have been in the sink. Tony said he would take out the U-bends if he had to and asked where I had gone in the building.”

A couple of hours later, Wendy was astonished when her husband returned home with the stone. She said: “He held out his fists and said ‘what have I got here?’. “He opened one hand and it was empty and then the other and it was there. I was so happy I cried.

“Everyone was amazed he found it. They had vacuumed and mopped the floors. It was against all the odds.”

Tony, 48, of Wakering Road, Shoebury had been driving home when he decided it was worth trying the hotel.

He said: “I explained to the hotel staff what happened and asked if I could look around. They said they had already cleaned up but they let me in anyway. I retraced Wendy’s steps and was getting ready to go through the rubbish bags but something told me take another look. I thought I was never going to find it then I spotted something in a corner of a corridor. “It’s safe in a bag now until we can get it fixed.”