Pig's name is mud after gem theft

Ann Moon said Ginger clasped her teeth around the ring

A greedy pig called Ginger is thought to be responsible for the theft of a £1,000 diamond from a woman's ring.

Ginger is believed to have swallowed the gem after Ann Moon put her hand in the pig pen at the Maize Maze in Easingwold, North Yorkshire, on Sunday.

Farmer Paul Caygill, who runs the visitor attraction, is hoping nature has taken its course and he will find the diamond in the pig's pen.

He told BBC News: "Hopefully it's come through by now."

Mrs Moon, who lives in Sowerby, near Thirsk, was visiting the farm with her husband Les, 63, and grandchildren Josh, four, and Emilia, aged 20 months.

The stone was missing from the centre of the ring

She said: "The pig came towards the fence and I put my hand through and it just clasped its teeth round the ring and for a while I was tugging and I couldn't get my hand away.

"When I did my hand was filthy and I wiped my hand and realised that it [Ginger] had taken the stone out of the centre of the ring."

Mr Caygill admitted he was struggling to find the ring in the pig pen.

But he said: "I have got the children on it as well so hopefully we'll find it at some point."