Watch returned to its owner eight days after road accident near Eye thanks to social media

Jack Bowgen, left, returned the watch to Michael Greer-Walker, and was given a bottle of whiskey as a thank-you from him and wife Carolyn Greer-Walker. Picture: Courtesy of Jack Bowgen (Image: Archant)

Pensioners Carolyn Greer-Walker, 74, and husband Michael, 76, from Somerleyton, near Lowestoft, had been leaving for a holiday to Iran to mark their 49th anniversary when their car ran off the road into a ditch on the A140, near Eye about 3.30pm on April 26.

Seeing the accident, Jack Bowgen, 22, who lives at Whitlingham Hall, and another motorist pulled over to help.

They were able to help Mrs Greer-Walker out of the car, but her husband was trapped inside with an arm injury.

Fire and Rescue and the air ambulance quickly arrived to assist, and firefighters cut the roof off the car to free Mr Greer-Walker.

An air ambulance was also called to the scene. Picture: Courtesy of Jack Bowgen (Image: Archant)

Mrs Greer-Walker said her husband had given her his watch in the car for safekeeping.

She said: 'It was very cold and Jack kindly lent me his jacket, and I must have put the watch into its pocket.

'But afterwards I was mystified as to what happened to this watch.'

It was not until a week later that Mr Bowgen discovered the watch in his high-vis work jacket.

Michael Greer-Walker's watch, found by Jack Bowgen days after the accident . Picture: Courtesy of Jack Bowgen (Image: Archant)

He said he tried to contact the couple through the police, without success, so he then launched a Facebook appeal.

Mrs Greer-Walker said: 'My son rang and said your watch has been found and it had gone out to the world on Facebook.

'I thought it was such a magical story.'

Mr Bowgen said: 'It only took eight hours to make contact - the post had 1,100 shares.

'The following night I went and dropped it off to them and they were very thankful.'

The Greer-Walkers, who were having a glass of champagne with friends to mark their anniversary when Mr Bowgen arrived, rewarded him with a bottle of whiskey and some petrol money.

Mr Bowgen works as a telemetry technician for Anglian Water, and also manages social media accounts for venues including Norwich's Mercy nightclub.

He said: 'Because of that I already knew the power of social media, but this really proves it.'

Mr Greer-Walker has needed treatment to his arm, but is now doing fine.

Mrs Greer-Walker said: 'We are just glad to be alive and terribly glad that nobody else was involved.

'We would also like to say thank you to the emergency services for the magnificent job they did and I don't know what kind of state we would have been in without them.'