A wartime shell uncovered on a Sheppey beach has been detonated by bomb disposal experts.

A metal detectorist made the explosive discovery on Minster seafront yesterday.

The device was safely detonated by the Royal Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit at 7.14pm.

Alan Underdown from Sittingbourne, said he had been sweeping the seabed during low-tide when his metal detector signal "went mad".

It comes just months after his son found a similar shell in the family's back garden.

Police and the Sheppey Coastguard were called to The Leas just before 11.40am yesterday, and a 50m cordon was put in place.

Mr Underdown explained: "I was digging and digging, the hole kept filling up with water, then I came across something heavy.

"I pulled it out, and straightaway I recognised what it was - a Second World War antiaircraft shell."

The 53-year-old said he carried the 11ins shell to shore and called police.

Mr Underdown, whose son Gary found a similar shell in the family's back garden in December, said the item was not explosive.

"It's like armoured piercing to bring down aircraft," he said. "But it has to be destroyed."

Police confirmed the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit had been contacted.

The team travelled from Portsmouth to retrieve the shell, which had become submerged as the tide turned.

Its presence was marked by a flag tied to a stick.

Referring to the family's second wartime weapons' find in the space of four months, Mr Underdown joked: "We're thinking of starting off our own bomb-finding department."

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