AN unexploded Second World War shell was blown up by the army on Monday evening after it had been thrown about and used as a house ornament for months. The British shell was found in a High Wycombe garden four years ago.

But the owner thought the shell was safe and left it in his back garden. Three months ago builders moved the shell along with rubble into the front garden. The owner's son then put the shell on a window sill, where it remained for a couple of months. It was later thrown out on to the rubble in the front garden. On Monday a builder was clearing the rubble in the front garden when he found the shell. "I took no notice and and threw it to one side," he said. "I put it on the pavement and threw it over the wall, it landed rather heavily." He intended to take the shell and rubble to Booker dump where it would have been burned, and it would have blown up.

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