An amateur metal detectorist combing Ainsdale beach sparked a huge emergency response after discovering a World War Two bomb.
The man, from Manchester, picked up what he described as a ‘lump of coal with gold sticking out of it’ on Ainsdale beach last weekend, before taking it home.
He carried the Bomb tucked away in his pocket as he made the two hour journey back home to Manchester.
Wayne Boyle, 53, recently won a metal detector in a competition and was on just his second trip out with it on Saturday (March 3) when he made the incredible discovery on Ainsdale Beach, near Southport. He said he initally thought the shell looked like ‘a lump of coal with gold sticking out of it’, and decided to pocket it to investigate further.
Back home in Broadbottom, Wayne tried ‘chipping away’ at the rusty ammunition before posting it to a forum to see if anybody could help him identify it.
Just hours later his whole road was cordoned off as a bomb squad and explosive specialists descended on his house.
An investigation later discovered that the bomb was not live and it was later safely disposed of.
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