A LIVE hand grenade discovered by a group of metal detectorists has been carefully destroyed by an army bomb squad.

Members of Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Metal Detecting club were conducting a dig near Wigglesworth at around lunchtime on Saturday (April 2) and unearthed a suspected World War 2 "Mills" hand grenade.

North Yorkshire Constabulary were notified and called in the bomb squad.

The soldiers who arrived from their base at Catterick, carefully placed the grenade in a hole and then attached a 100g charge. 

Club member Raymond Godwin, who called the police, said: “With a 100m fuse and four police officers watching from a safe distance, the soldiers kindly let local farmer Mr Simpson’s young daughter trigger the controlled explosion. 

“The army confirmed that the device was live and had a 5m kill radius, the coiler who discovered it was fortunate not to have struck it with his spade!

“Mr Simpson said he was delighted that such a serious and undiscovered risk on his land had been identified and eliminated.”

Lancashire Telegraph:

Raymond said the group go out regularly to the area but had never gone "across the border".

He added: “There were about 50 of us in the morning taking part and then about 30 who continued into the afternoon.

“In the past we have found remnants of a grenade but never a live one.

“We had some great banter with the police who were delighted to be spending their Saturday afternoon on such an interesting job and in such beautiful countryside.

"It all made for a very interesting and entertaining day.”

Anyone who wants to find out more about the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Metal Detectorists club can click here.