A HAND grenade believed to be from the Second World War was pulled out of a river in Salisbury Sunday evening, the discovery described as the “holy grail of metal fishing”.
David Scoles and Terri Carpenter, from New Milton, had come to the city at the weekend to see what they could find in the rivers.
At around 5.15pm however, Wiltshire Police was called to the New Bridge Road area to deal with the metal fishing discovery.
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David said: “We had found scaffolding and a bit of scrap metal, we dipped it in water to clean it all up and there it was on the other side of the magnet. I just said to Terri we best move away and leave [the grenade] there.
“It’s not what you expect in Salisbury. My dad was in the Forces so I immediately knew what it was.”
The couple then located a passing police officer who agreed to inspect the find.
“I don’t think [the officer] believed us but then we were asked to keep 200 metres back,” Dave added.
“We weren’t allowed to leave the area so we ended up stuck in a pub, so we just had some dinner.
“We had gone to the water meadows first, then we went to that bridge to see what we could find and the rest is history.”
As previously reported a spokesperson for Wiltshire Police said: “The grenade was fished out of the river by a member of the public magnet fishing.
“The EOD arrived and carried out a small, controlled explosion at 7pm and the cordon was lifted soon after that.”
Road closures were in place for around two hours, meaning the public could not access Churchill Way South and New Bridge Road.
Not new to metal fishing, in the past the couple has found shot guns and pitchforks, but never any form of grenade or bomb.
David added: “Finding this was like the holy grail of metal fishing.
“I know it causes a lot of mayhem and wasn’t ideal, especially on a Sunday evening!”
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