BOMB disposal experts were called in after a military shell believed to date from the Second World War was unearthed on Weymouth Beach.

A large section of the central beach was closed off for the entire morning yesterday amid safety fears after a metal detector enthusiast made the find in the early hours.

A 100-metre cordon which had been in place since about 4am was eventually lifted around 12.15pm after the shell was removed to a safe place by a Royal Navy team and destroyed. It was found to be the front end of an armour piercing shell.

Detectorist Roger Evans told how he hit the shell to get the dirt off before realising what it was.
Mr Evans, 49, from Somerset, said he had been metal detecting in the area for nearly 20 years but had never discovered anything like the shell before.

He said he and his friend Rob Petree came down about 2.30am to do some detecting at very low tide. 
Mr Evans said they waded out about 200 metres and he dug in the sand and found a large item encrusted with dirt and shells after getting a signal on his detector. 

Mr Evans said: “When I pulled it out I got my foot underneath it and rolled it up my leg.”
He took the item up the beach to the dry sand and broke the dirt off before realising what it was. 
Mr Evans said it was a “bit of a shock” adding: “I thought, I’d better not hit it too many times. I was literally hitting the dirt off.” 

Police ordered a cordon to be put in place on the beach down from the old Tourist Information Centre site after Mr Evans reported the find.
Lifeguards and coastguards manned the cordon to keep the public safe.

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they were informed at 3.45am and they set up the cordon.
A spokesman said: “It’s possibly a World War Two shell.”
Seafront shop workers arrived to find the cordon in place yesterday and police, coastguards and council beach patrol workers at the scene. Pedestrians stopped to ask those guarding the cordon what was going on.

Jody Damen from The View Café, said: “I got in at about 9am and they were already here. We called the boss immediately to see what he said about opening as the sign for the cordon was right by our entrance. The beach patrol were happy for us to keep open.”

After the shell was removed, Rob Sansom, senior coastal operations officer from HM Coastguard said: “The ordnance was a three and a half inch armour piercing shell.
“It’s very unusual to find one on Weymouth Beach.”

Picture of the cordon from Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team

Dorset Echo: