The bomb squad has been called to a Highland town after a father-and-son discovered an old wartime device – the first time they used their metal detector.
Ryan Junor found the ordnance, believed to be from the First World War, in Invergordon last night with his oldest son Shay.
The 39-year-old works offshore and decided to get a metal detector after talking to friends about ways to fill his time while at home.
Within 10 minutes of trying it out, Mr Junor came across the device and had no idea what it was – thinking at first it was an rusty old bottle.
Mr Junor, from Alness, said: “I was just finding my feet with the machine, I don’t even know how to use it properly and it was making loads of sounds.
“We pinpointed this though, so we dug it up and it was about half a meter into the ground.
“It looks like an old, rusted bottle, it looks nothing like a bomb at all. We didn’t know what it was so we carried on detecting.”
Social media warnings
Mr Junor then posted his first find on a Facebook page called Metal Detecting Scotland and was shocked to learn he had potentially uncovered a bomb, with many guessing it was a Stokes Mortar from the First World War.
Members of the page immediately told him to call the bomb squad.
By then, he and his son had carried the device from the fields near the town’s bomb shelters towards the rugby club so put it down where he was and raised the alarm.
Officers arrived on the scene shortly after and cordoned off the area.
“The scary thing was I was actually holding it and carrying it for about 650ft,” Mr Junor said.
“It’s from a field I’ve walked over my whole life, walking to Invergordon Academy when I used to go there, and my two kids go there too.”
Area in lockdown
Police cordoned off a section of Castle Avenue in the town, between the junctions of Gordon Terrace and Academy Road.
Homes and businesses were evacuated, and Invergordon Academy – which is also home to Park Primary – was shut for the day.
A 200-metre cordon was erected around the area with people warned to stay away.
Police have confirmed the explosive ordnance disposal team managed to remove the item and the cordon has been taken down.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: “We can confirm that Royal Navy Bomb Disposal experts from the Diving Threat and Exploitation Group’s Charlie Squadron attended Invergordon earlier today at the request of Police Scotland.
“An item of historic ordnance was rendered safe and removed from the area for onward disposal at a defence munitions site.
“It is believed that the item was a mortar from the First World War era.”
A police officer at the scene said: “It was found on the playing field here, pretty close to where we are standing.
“Last night was when the reports came in. I believe it was an enthusiast with a metal detector who found it, dug it up, took photos of it, and shared it on social media and someone alerted him that he shouldn’t really be standing beside it and notified us.”
‘I won’t be as naive next time’
A local shopkeeper saw pictures of the device posted online and described it as “more than a foot long and rusty” due to its age.
A police spokesman said: “Emergency services attended at Castle Terrace in Invergordon after an unexploded ordnance was found. A cordon was put in place, and several houses and shops were evacuated as a precaution.
“Explosive ordnance disposal attended and removed the item.
“The cordon has been lifted, and the roads have now re-opened. There was no wider threat to the public.”
However, the drama has not deterred father-of-three Mr Junor from continuing his new-found hobby.
He added: “It was quite scary what we found, and I came home thinking ‘Jesus, that could have gone wrong’, but it’s certainly not deterred me.
“I won’t be as naive next time. It was a large heavy object, so I’ll do more research and if we do come across anything in the future we can leave it in the location.”
Conversation