BOMB disposal experts were called in after a Second World War shell was found abandoned in a North East field.

Police in Shildon were told by a man that he had dumped an unexploded three inch shell in a field near to Fulton Court, Shildon, on Monday. (January 7)

The anonymous caller told police he had owned the shell for several years but his wife had now asked him to get rid of it.

He gave officers co-ordinates to find the explosive. PCSO Michael Robson, based at Shildon, searched the area and found the shell wrapped in a black bin bag at 3.15pm.

A 50-metre cordon was put up round the explosive as a precaution but no-one was evacuated. The Army’s bomb disposal team from Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was called and it sent up a team of experts to deal with the shell.

The shell was x-rayed by the Army team and was found to be inert and no danger and the Catterick Garrison team took it away at 5.15pm.