Magnet-fishing boy, 7, hook artillery shell

A seven-year-old boy retrieved an unexploded artillery shell from a river while using a magnet to catch fish in search of treasure.

Ian Platt said his son had earlier caught “a very large artillery shell, which looks live”, from under a bridge over the River Aire in Leeds.

Mr Platt, who is part of the Queen of Magnet fishing group, said he kept the equipment soaked in water until police arrived to close the bridge and stop traffic.

West Yorkshire Police said officers were called at 12:46 GMT. The site was cordoned off and the equipment was destroyed in a controlled explosion shortly after 18:00.

Mr Platt said the group was fishing “as usual” on the River Aire when his son made his discovery near South Accommodation Road.

He said police called in army bomb disposal experts to assess the device and “dispose of it safely”.

Mr Platt said the shell was not the kind of thing the group usually pulled from the depth.

“We don’t get things like this very often, but when it does happen we have protocols we have to implement,” he said.

“Set up a cordon, make sure the equipment is soaked in water so it can’t get any worse, make sure we notify the authorities – and then they take it from there.”

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