A depressed man who was arrested after police found a live grenade in his flat confessed he had hidden two bombs on Canvey.

Police were alerted by the man's friend who feared for his safety.

Officers stormed his Ilford flat and found the volatile Second World War grenade and various other pieces of shrapnel and wire.

A controlled explosion took place at 3am in a park and the man was later picked up by police. During interview, he said he had hidden two 18lb bombs at the bottom of a 35-ton concrete barge near Canvey Yacht Club at The Point.

Ilford detectives contacted Canvey officers and raced to the scene.

An Ilford police spokesman said: "When we got there, we could see children playing in the area and they had found one of the shells. We got them away from the area and immediately sealed it off.

"If that shell had gone off, the children would have been seriously maimed or even killed. Fortunately nobody was hurt, thanks to the swift actions of all the police officers involved."

A bomb disposal unit from Colchester was called in and officers found two shells, up to 12 inches long, three inches wide and very rusty.

Insp Paul Everitt from Benfleet police, said: "Bomb disposal units examined them but were unable to deal with them straight away as they could not be moved.

"Officers from Canvey cordoned off the scene and stayed there overnight to make sure the public were kept safe. Yesterday, the experts came back and carried out a controlled explosion."

He added: "It appears that these items had been recovered from the mud in a very rusty state. We would like to stress to the public that searching for and recovering such items is a very dangerous procedure."

On Thursday Ilford police were questioning a man in connection with the live grenade discovered at the Ilford flat.

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