Emergency services rushed to the primary school following reports from concrened staff members – the children were moved to safety while police and army explosive experts investigated
Staff and children at a primary school were forced to evacuate and bomb disposal experts were called in after a pupil brought in a very unusual item to a show-and-tell assembly.
The shocking incident happened at Osmaston CofE Primary School in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on Friday, May 16 after the youngster unexpectedly produced the WW2 grade 5 explosive device during the assembly. Head teacher Jeanette Hart said she was ‘unsure if the grenade was live’ – so took it from the boy and placed it behind a ‘substantial’ tree in the school’s car park. Emergency serevices rushed to the school and police praised the ‘quick-thinking’ staff.
The children were moved to safety while police and army explosive experts were called to the scene. Army experts arrived on the scene and carried out some checks before later establishing the grenade, which was a family heirloom he had picked up without telling his parents, was safe.
READ MORE: Woman suffers miscarriage after sick paramedic secretly gave her abortion drug
Mrs Hart said: “It was quite an eventful assembly. It was going fine and there was a boy who brought an old bullet case in, which I knew about, but then his friend produced a hand grenade from his pocket. That, I was not expecting.”
Speaking to the BBC about the unusual incident Mrs Hart said she ‘tried to avoid a panic’ when she realised the pupil was holding the grenade. She said: “It looked old and I thought it might be safe but I didn’t want to take the risk. I ended the assembly, took it off him and slowly carried it outside and put it behind a far tree in the car park. I wasn’t 100 percent happy carrying it to be honest.”
“It was entirely innocent,’ she added. ‘I don’t think he ever really knew what it was. We’d been talking about VE Day and he knew it was from the war and just thought it was an interesting thing. His family didn’t know and they were a little taken aback.”
Derbyshire Police said army explosives experts determined the grenade was safe using X-ray equipment and urged parents to check what their children are taking to school after the shocking incident. In a statement on the Matlock, Cromford, Wirksworth and Darley Dale Police Safer Neighbourhood Team Facebook page the force said: “We even got to see those [X-ray] images and [were] told a detailed analysis of how there was nothing that would set the grenade off.
The post concluded with some important advice for parents: “Just a word of guidance for parents and guardians – double check what your kids are taking to show-and-tell, especially when they are family heirlooms.”