Man discovers wartime grenades

A bomb scare shattered the tranquillity of a quiet residential street in the Midlands this weekend after a resident discovered a hoard of wartime grenades in his back garden.

Fire crews and paramedics were dispatched to Belbroughton Road in Halesowen at around 4pm on Saturday after Ian Cooke inadvertently disturbed the weapons stash, buried 12 inches below ground, while digging.

The army's bomb disposal experts were alerted and arrived around five hours later, finding 24 unexploded Self Igniting Grenades (SIGs).

With darkness falling they were forced to return yesterday to remove and safely detonate the devices, which consist of glass bottles containing a volatile mix of phosphorus and benzene.

A section of the street was cordoned off and around half a dozen homes evacuated for several hours while controlled explosions were carried out in a skip provided by Dudley Council.