A DANGEROUS bomb was left in a Hanley Swan garden for three weeks before it was disposed of in a controlled explosion on Monday.

Picken End resident Gerald James found the grenade when he was digging up a rotten fence between his own garden and that of his neighbour David Horrobin.

"When I looked at it I knew what it was straight away and I didn't take too much of a chance," he said.

He said he threw it into his neighbour's garden, warning his neighbour Mr Horrobin of the potential danger. But it was not until returning from holiday that Mr Horrobin rang the police at about 9am.

"I didn't think it was going to be urgent or dangerous," he said.

Two members of the 11th Explosive Ordinance Disposal Regiment of the Royal Logistic Corps, based at Ashchurch in Tewkesbury, were immediately called in.

"These grenades, known as number 36 grenades, turn up a lot either in gardens or fields," said an army spokesman.

"It's a World War Two era grenade and it's blind, which basically means someone has tried to use it, and it hasn't worked. It's effectively unsafe and we had to destroy it."

The procedure to dispose of the grenade was intricate, requiring workmen from Raynesway Construction to place sandbags around the site and police to ensure the safety of residents in the area. A Transco engineer also checked gas pipes.

Mr Horrobin and his neighbours were evacuated from their homes and other residents in the street were told not to be alarmed if they heard a loud bang.

As he found the bomb, Mr James was allowed to press the button that triggered the explosion.

"It's caused some excitement," he said afterwards. "If that fence hadn't fallen down we wouldn't have known any different."

The explosion left a crater, which Mr Horrobin said he was considering converting into a fish pond.

The bomb disposal squad urges anyone who finds a bomb to contact the police immediately.