A SEVEN-year-old boy sparked a security scare after discovering a Second World War bomb with a metal detector he was given for Christmas.
Sonny Cater was exploring fields near his house when the £30 National Geographic metal detector led him to a mud-caked metal capsule.
Sonny unearthed the object and took it home. His father, Jem, became suspicious after rinsing off the mud under the kitchen tap. He contacted his father-in-law, a former RAF armourer, who advised Mr Cater to call the police.
A bomb disposal squad, from RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire, was dispatched to the family home in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, where experts identified the device as a 10lb British practice bomb and removed it.
Yesterday Sonny’s mother, Tracey Cater, said: “We are dumbfounded that he discovered this on his first go. We are going to go out again to see if he can find something Roman. It has made our Christmas.
“It was caked in mud and Jem just thought it was a lump of metal and took it home.
“Sonny did become a little nervous with the arrival of the emergency services.”
Sonny was enjoying a walk with his parents and brother Marley, nine, on Boxing Day when his metal detector started bleeping.
He dug up the treasure but could not make out what it was so hurriedly bundled up the muddy object and took it home to wash down.
Mrs Cater explained why Sonny had the metal detector. “Kids always love looking for treasure so we thought it would be a fun random present for his stocking.
“When it started buzzing, we all thought it would be some two-pence pieces or something like that. I never thought it would be anything this serious.
“It was all very exciting, the kids and Jem started digging and then our crazy dog started digging, too.
“It was a big muddy lump when it came to the surface so we stupidly thought, ‘Let’s take it home’.
“We feel a bit silly now we know it could have potentially been dangerous but it’s not often we go exploring and end up with a bomb in a bucket of water at the end of the garden. I should imagine there were a few curtains twitching.”
Practice bombs were used in the first and second world wars to allow military to rehearse without causing the same excess of damage as they would with regular bombs. They were also cheaper to make.
RAF Wittering spokesman Flight Lieutenant Donald Earl advised people to call police and not move suspicious items.
He said: “We find a lot of bombs in Afghanistan with metal detectors but we don’t tend to find them in the UK. We would urge members of the public to leave suspicious items in situ.”