An amateur metal detector this week revealed he was shocked to discover one of his prized possessions was an unexploded bomb – and then admitted he used to play with it as a child.
Steven Attew, 25, inherited a mess tin full of war treasures from his granddad – local historian Geoff Perkins - following his death a number of years ago.
And he gave them pride of place in a display cabinet in his room at his mother's house at Meadow Close, Felbrigg, by Cromer.
However, the labourer, who has previously unearthed coins and brooches dating back to Roman times, revealed he realised a small mortar bomb among his collection was still live after watching footage of a similar item being destroyed in a controlled explosion online.
He called his mum, Carol Harrington, to alert her to the danger before rushing from his home in nearby Little Snoring to move it to the garden and phone police, who called in the bomb squad.
Recalling the drama this week, Mr Attew said: 'It was crazy, it came as a bit of a shock really. I couldn't really believe there was that much drama for such a little thing I used to play with.
'When my granddad passed away, this was in his garage; I think it is what he must have found as a child and kept it.
'Basically, I looked on Facebook and I saw someone had dug up the same thing I had and I called my mum up and said: 'You need to get it out the house'.
A bomb disposal team from RAF Peterborough was summoned after the alarm was raised last Saturday around 11am and the mortar bomb, as well as some bullets from the collection, was taken to a field on the National Trust estate at Felbrigg Hall where it was destroyed in a controlled explosion and the area declared safe, shortly after 5pm.
Mr Attew, who works as a scaffolder's labourer, said: 'About 11am, I came over and put it down the bottom of the garden, somewhere safe and out of the way, and then called the police. They were a bit worried so contacted the bomb squad and then they saw it as a dangerous item and took it down to Felbrigg Hall and exploded it.'
He added: 'My fiancée, Sarah Marshall, was pregnant when this all started happening on Saturday and then we joked it would make the baby come and, in the early hours of Monday morning, Rory Travis Attew was delivered.'
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