PENSIONER Eunice Gray was disturbed when she found a hatchet outside the Sportsman while on her way for a paper early one morning last week.

Fearing the worst, she picked it up carefully, not wanting to wipe off any fingerprints, and placed it in a plastic bag for the police to collect.

But when she rang the Leigh station Eunice, who is 70-years-old and disabled, says she was asked to drop it in at Chapel Street.

Eunice, who believed she was doing a public duty, was taken aback by the lack of interest.

She said it didn't have to have been used in Leigh to have been used in a crime and dropped there, and anyway any child could have picked up the lethal weapon and caused damage.

Probably thought she'd been watching too much Corrie after watching Angie place the axe that was used to kill hubby, Tommy, in his coffin.

However, the official response from the police is that they are grateful to Mrs Gray for contacting them regarding the discovery and that her call allowed them to check whether the tool may have been used as a weapon in any offences in the area. There was no evidence to suggest that this axe had been used in any crime.

As there was no suggestion it had been used for anything other than legitimate purposes it was not deemed necessary for officers to visit Mrs Gray at her home address.

Do what you will with it, Eunice.