THE mother of treasure hunter Peter Cawley, who died 12 days after unearthing a 300-year-old ring in Avebury, says his death was simply a tragic coincidence.

Mr Cawley, 38, died after being found lying in a road near his home in Avebury Trusloe with severe head injuries.

At first police suspected he was the victim of a hit and run driver, but medical tests ruled out any suspicious circumstances.

Mr Cawley died in hospital in Oxford and at an inquest held in the city the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The coroner was happy that his injuries were consistent with a fall as he walked home.

Unemployed building worker Mr Cawley unearthed the 17th century gold ring, inscribed "Noe recompense but love", while searching fields near his home without the permission of landowner Robin Butler.

His mother, Joan Cawley, with whom Mr Cawley had been living since parting from a girlfriend in Calne, said: "It was just a coincidence, no more than that."

She said her son, her only child, was an alcoholic and had been unable to work for some time.

"He used to go out detecting quite a lot, at nights and in the day. He was interested in that sort of thing," she said.

Mrs Cawley said that as soon as her son realised the ring he found was made of gold and could be valuable he informed the curator, Dr Paul Robinson, at the Wiltshire Heritage Mus-eum in Devizes and told the farmer on November 1.

The ring, identified by the marking WG as a love token made by Marl-borough jeweller William Gough in the 1600s, was the subject of an inquest held at Swindon by Wiltshire Coroner David Masters.

Mr Masters decided that ring was treasure and he seized it on behalf of the Crown.

The British Museum is valuing the ring and Wiltshire Heritage Mus-eum is keen to acquire it.