A US man who accidentally threw his wife's $10,000 (£6,000) engagement ring in the bin managed to find it after sifting through tons of rubbish at a local tip.

Brian McGuinn mistakenly dumped the sparkler along with his old razor blade.

His pregnant wife Anna had given him the ring while she was in the shower and because he had other rubbish in his hand he failed to notice the jewel.

He only realised what he had done after the rubbish had been collected from their house in Margate, Florida.

The couple ran out to try to find the bin men, only to find they had missed them by about 10 minutes.

Mrs McGuinn, 31, said: "The waterworks began. My husband looked on in horror.

"I felt absolutely devastated. I was shocked. I was crying. I felt helpless."

She called a waste management company and was told her husband could search for the sparkler in the plant's rubbish pile.

The financial adviser then wore a protective suit, and a worker directed him to the area where his area's rubbish was dumped 10ft high.

Her husband said: "Nastiness you wouldn't believe. It was absolutely disgusting. It stunk beyond belief.

"The smell was God-awful. Everything unsanitary you could think of crossed my path at least a couple (of) times."

But after just 30 minutes of sifting through the garbage mountain, he struck lucky when he spotted a tiny glimmer surrounded by black sludge, wedged between two brown bags.

"It looked like a screw, and I reached down, and it looped around my index finger," he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

"I was ecstatic. It was like winning the lottery. It was probably one of the best moments ever."

He added: "I'm not in charge of the ring any more." His wife added: "Never".

He is lucky he found it!!

Ah man!!