Man Reunites With His Stolen Wallet After 20 Years With All the Cards Still Intact

(Courtesy of Ryan Seymour)

A Scottish man has been left stunned by the return of an old wallet that was stolen from him in a pub 20 years ago. Most incredibly, the wallet was discovered in a bush outside the same pub, with all his cards intact.

Ryan Seymour, a 37-year-old graphic designer from Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, was out drinking with friends at The Elizabethan pub in Dunfermline in 2001 when he left his wallet in a bathroom stall, after which it was stolen.

The pocketbook, embossed with his name in gold, contained bank cards, a work ID card, a library card, a video rental card, and 60 pounds (approx. US$85) in cash, all of which Seymour eventually thought he'd never see again.

(Courtesy of Ryan Seymour)

Twenty years later, in April this year, Seymour, who is a father of one, was shocked when his local police station contacted him on Facebook. His wallet had been found in a hedge outside the pub by a passerby, with everything except the cash.

Sharing a screenshot of the Facebook message from a Dunfermline Police representative, Gillian, in late April, Seymour claimed, “honestly I can’t stop laughing.” Replying to Gillian, he admitted he could barely remember the night, but planned to retrieve the wallet for “sentimental reasons.”

However, it took Seymour almost four weeks to go and collect the wallet, according to The Daily Mail.

(Courtesy of Ryan Seymour)

In May, Seymour posted a Tweet, sharing a photo of the leather billfold and a few of the cards inside. He wrote: “Well ladies & gents. You might remember a few weeks ago, the police got in touch to say my wallet had been handed in, that was stolen 20 YEARS AGO. Well. Here it is...”

Opening the relic, Seymour was amused to see himself as a fresh-faced Bank of Scotland employee on his old work ID card. The video rental card, given how far technology has come, made him chuckle.

The Elizabethan pub in Dunfermline, Fife. (Screenshot/Google Maps)

On June 3, Seymour received another unexpected surprise. The person who found his wallet reached out on social media to say he was glad it had been returned to its owner; owing to its condition, he had been in two minds about handing it in.

Yet Seymour was impressed at the wallet’s longevity.

“It’s crazy how intact it is after all these years, especially when you think about all the rain and snow we’ve had since then,” Seymour told the Scottish Sun. “It was certainly a trip down memory lane when I sifted though it ... my life then was a total contrast to my life now.”

(Courtesy of Ryan Seymour)

Seymour is still good friends with the man he went drinking with the night he lost his wallet. “He’s finding this whole thing hilarious,” he said.

But perhaps best pleased was Seymour’s mother, who gifted her son the embossed pocketbook as a Christmas present.

To the thief who stole his wallet and cash some 20 years ago, Seymour had a parting message: “It’s all water under the bridge, but I do hope that person has changed their ways.”

(Courtesy of Ryan Seymour)

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