A MYSTERY Hampshire shopper could be in line for a gem of a surprise - and they don't even know it.

Now a hunt has been launched to find the person who could be unwittingly walking around with a real diamond worth £1,000 in their pocket.

At the opening of Jeremy France's revamped jewellers, in Winchester High Street, 550 small white stones were handed out to the public.

One of them was a valuable diamond, just half a centimetre across, which the winner would keep.

But while nearly 300 stones have been returned and checked, the real diamond has yet to appear.

Mr France said: "People were told to bring the stones back after a week and we would check them. But it's now three weeks since we gave them out and we're really worried somebody's going to throw it away or lose it.

"We were giving them out to all members of the family, so if a family of four came in, the children would take one too. They were in little red tins, so hopefully they won't just have been thrown out with the shopping bags."

He said the diamond would be ideal in an engagement ring or in an ornament.

Mr France urged anyone else who collected a stone to bring it back to the shop for testing.

"We need all those people out there who think 'I never win anything' to bring their stones in - someone has to win," he added.