Grenade donated to charity shop found to be empty

Explosives experts have confirmed a grenade donated to a charity shop in Leicester city centre was inert.

Road closures were put in place as Leicestershire Police and the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit were called to an Age UK furniture shop in Gladstone Street just after 14:05 GMT on Tuesday.

The grenade was examined by an operator and identified as an empty World War One hand grenade, an Army spokesperson confirmed.

The spokesperson added: "It was safely recovered from the scene for later disposal."

Chief executive of Age UK Leicestershire and Rutland, Tony Donovan, said: "The staff got a bit of a fright all right.

"We can joke about it now but it could have been live - you hear about people finding these things."

Mr Donovan said the charity had helped to clear out someone's home at the request of their family and collected a number of boxes to be sorted at the warehouse.

"It [the grenade] was rolling around in the box in the back of the van.," he added.

"Despite what happened on Wednesday, we're desperate for stock at the moment."

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