Man describes moment he pulls up hand grenade from Salisbury river
Roads near Churchill Gardens were shut for a time on Sunday (30th August).
David Scoles, from New Milton, has spoken about his shock when he pulled up a hand grenade from the River Avon in Salisbury.
David, and his partner Terri, were 'magnet fishing' on New Bridge Road when he made the shocking discovery.
After a fairly unsuccessful day, David was pulling his magnet out of the river when he saw there was a bike lock on one side and a rusty piece of iron on the other.
As he cleaned off the weeds using the water, he straight away realised that also on the device was a hand grenade.
David told Greatest Hits Radio:
"We decided to go to Salisbury on Sunday because we've not been there before and after a few bridges we'd found nothing but we then moved to New Bridge started pulling out lots of rubbish and then all of a sudden there it was, a hand grenade on the side of my magnet, which was a bit of a shock really.
When I pulled it out I had other bits and pieces on it, and it was covered in weeds so I dipped it in and out of the water to clean it and I just caught it in the corner of my eye and I knew instantly what it was because my dad used to be in the forces, so I just gently put it down, looked at the missus and told her we should move away very quickly which we did after taking a couple of photos for keep sake."
He then called Wiltshire Police straight away and who closed the road between Churchill South and New Bridge Road roundabouts for a couple of hours while they dealt with it.
It caused many delays in the area and David wanted to apologise to anyone in Salisbury who was affected.
A controlled explosion of the device was later carried out.
WHAT IS MAGNET FISHING?
It's similar to metal detecting, but done in a body of water.
People submerge a giant magnet with a piece of string attached and then slowly pull it out to see if there is anything under the surface.
For David and Terri it's a hobby and has turned into a little bit of competition between the two:
"Terri managed to pull out two shotguns from Ringwood a little while ago and all I had found that day was an old saucepan and she's been ribbing me for ages about it but I finally managed to top her on Sunday so she's gone very quiet for the time being."