A man today told of his narrow escape after finding a live grenade in a shed he was about to knock down.
Bomb disposal experts were called to Paul Fittock’s home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire to detonate the Second World War device he found gathering dust on a shelf.
Mr Fittock, 33, only discovered the device in rafters of the old wooden shed because he was carrying out a final inspection before sledgehammering it down.
Mr Fittock, who bought the nearby house six months ago, had just gained planning permission to raze the dilapidated building to the ground.
RAF officers placed the device in a metal box and took it to a quarry to be detonated. Police briefly sealed the road off for safety.
The computer engineer told the Gloucestershire Echo: “There was no mistaking what it was so I got out of there quickly and called the police.
“If I hadn’t seen it and started knocking the building down it could have easily dropped to the floor. Who knows what could have happened?”
Next door neighbour Amanda Wiltshire said: “It’s the most exciting thing to have happened since I’ve lived here!”
