A pensioner was left “dumbfounded” when he found a World War Two grenade in the garage of the house he has lived in for 55 years.
Explosive experts were called to ex-miner Brian Elliott’s house in Ystrad Mynach yesterday, August 10, and removed the explosive device.
The 79-year-old had been clearing out the garage with his grandson, Thomas Enright, 10, when something fell out of a cupboard he was demolishing and rolled across the floor.
But it wasn’t the sort of junk usually found during a garage clear out, leaving Mr Elliott in disbelief.
He said: “I pulled the cabinet and it rolled out.
“I thought it was a pebble, but I picked it up and saw the ring coming out of the side where you pull the pin.
“I was dumbfounded it’s not something you expect.
“I’ve never seen a hand grenade before, it’s lucky I’ve watched war films.”
Mr Elliott and his wife Betty, 78, have lived in the house on Penallta Road since 1960.
They converted it into two to share with Mr Elliott’s brother-in-law and his wife.
Mr Elliott said the garage was also used by his brother-in-law, who passed away two years ago.
The police told Mr Elliott’s daughter that there was gunpowder in the grenade but the mechanism was faulty.
The former Penallta Colliery lodge secretary said he has no idea where the grenade came from.
“I can’t believe it was there because my brother-in-law was religious so I can’t see him putting it there.
“My wife was dumbfounded that you’re looking at a hand grenade having lived here all these years.
“It’s surprising what you find in this garage, but that’s something you don’t want to find.”
A Gwent Police spokesperson said officers were called to a property on Penallta Road at around 4.30pm on August 10 and the area was sealed off with a cordon.
Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Logistics Corps safely removed the grenade.