Message in a bottle's 'Emily' found after 17 years

Emily Edwards, 25, was seven when she threw the bottle into the sea in Rhyl

A woman who threw a message in a bottle into the sea when she was a seven-year-old girl has been reunited with it - 17 years later.

Mother-of-one Emily Edwards, 25, dropped the note in Rhyl, north Wales, while on a family holiday in 2001.

Sam Hammond found it while in Nefyn last week, almost 60 miles away.

All that could be seen on the note, shared through Telford Live, was a postcode in Telford, the date and Emily's name.

Mr Hammond's mum, Sue Cookson, said: "Sam was visiting from London and found it on the beach right in front of our house when he was going for a run.

"We have never found anything like that before so we thought it would be fun to try and find her."

All that could be made out was a Telford postcode, the date 22/12/01 and the name Emily

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The post on Telford Live was shared hundreds of times, with users pinpointing the postcode to Leegomery in Telford.

Just hours later Ms Edwards came forward, revealing she got the idea after watching the film Message in a Bottle.

Ms Edwards, who now lives in Shrewsbury, said: "I saw it and I thought, I still have the same handwriting'.

"It was crazy, I never would have expected it to come back."

Ms Edwards, who is on maternity leave from her job as assistant manager of a taxi firm, said she was excited at the prospect of sharing the story with her eight-month-old daughter, Luna.

She said she "vaguely" remembered the note when a friend shared the post with her.