9-Year-Old Digs up Grenade in his Backyard

East Devon, England A young boy was searching for bones in his garden in East Devon he unearthed a military relic that prompted a bomb squad response. Nine-year-old George Peniston-Bird dug up the device then ran into the house to tell his mother about it.

Skeptical at first, she called the non-emergency response line but was quickly put through to 999. Police responded approximately 20 minutes later.

Ms. Peniston-Bird said, ''I was absolutely sparko [half asleep] after a really late night and he came running into the bedroom and said, 'You've got to wake up, I've found a grenade!'" Doubtful, she told him to go photograph the "grenade."

She went on to say she thought, "That's just going to be a bit of rubbish," but "He ran back in the house with his iPad, thrust it in my face and I was so half asleep and said, 'Oh, that might actually be a grenade.'"

Police arrived and requested assistance from EOD who X-rayed the ordnance, identifying it as a live WWII grenade. It was safely moved to a nearby field for detonation.

A social media post by the Rural East Devon Police reported, ''It's been an explosive afternoon for our colleagues at Rural East Devon Response. This might sound concerning but is surprisingly common in Devon & Cornwall where a number of devices either wash on shore or are located when clearing out a loved-one's property after being kept as a keepsake. Only last week in Colyton our officers from Seaton Neighborhood Policing Team attended a similar report, with the grenade being detonated safely in a field behind the property.''