Section of Southsea beach taped off after brothers find World War Two shell

Brothers Kieran and John Leeming unearthed the British World War Two anti-aircraft bullet - which turned out not to be explosive - on the shore by South Parade Pier yesterday.

The 11-year-old and nine-year-old were playing by the edge of the water when they found the shell encased in a rock.

The boys were on a family day trip with their mum Vicki, dad Damian, siblings Millie and Kristian, grandparents and aunt.

Vicki, from Buckland, Portsmouth, said: ‘They were by the water and had been throwing some stones.

‘Then all of a sudden, John comes running up to us shouting “I’ve found a bullet, I’ve found a bullet.”

‘Our first reaction was ‘Really? Let’s have a look at it then” so my husband looked at it and then showed his dad.

‘We weren’t sure if it was explosive or not so we decided the best thing to do was to phone the police.’

The police arrived and placed the shell in a hole they had dug, before they cordoned off a section of the beach to wait for the bomb disposal team to arrive.

Vicki said: ‘My boys were very proud of themselves and they think the whole things is cool.

‘They’ve been talking about it all day and will definitely go back to school and tell all their friends.

‘It’s never a quiet day down the beach is it?’

A spokesman for the bomb disposal unit said: ‘It was a solid shot projectile which means it doesn’t contain explosives.

‘It was British World War Two - anti-aircraft shell.

‘We came down to simply retrieve it.’