Parts of Colchester's Castle Park had to be cordoned off after a bomb was found floating in the river.

Police and the Army bomb disposal team were called to the scene at 5.30pm on Saturday.

A member of the public who had seen something suspicious floating in the water flagged down a police vehicle.

Crowds enjoying the late afternoon sunshine had to be ushered away from the area at the bottom of Catchpool Road, behind the cricket pavilion, so the bomb disposal team could investigate.

A spokesman for Colchester police said: "A member of the public had spotted the item which was about 18 inches long and tubular, with fins on the back - exactly the way people expect a bomb to look.

"A fairly large area around the site was made out of bounds to the public to be on the safe side."

He added that the item was in fact a Second World War German mortar bomb which the Army did not have to detonate but took away with them.

"We still have no idea how it got there," he said.

"But the most popular theories are that someone dug it up and dumped it in the river or that it has been buried near the river bank and erosion allowed it to float free."

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