WHEN these brave little Lancaster lads found a hand grenade on their street little did they know it was real.

"My boy told me they were playing catchy with it today," said six-year-old Robert's mother Belinda Cragg who was still shocked. "They thought it was just a toy but it could have killed them."

Quick thinking by the Cragg's neighbour on Patterdale Road Darren Edgar, 17, saved the day when he examined the grenade and ran home to call the police.

The bobbies collected the device which Darren had left by a nearby tree and the bomb squad were called up from Liverpool. Officers from the specialist squad exploded the British army grenade at the nearby Central Lancaster High School a couple of hours after the initial alert at 4.15pm on Monday.

But as all the mayhem surrounding the grenade went on around them Robert with Lee and Ryan Bousfield, five and eight, remained calm.

Said Robert: "We went to see it exploded but it wasn't loud because there was sandbags all around."

Meanwhile Belinda said she and her husband Tony and the Bousfield brothers' parents still couldn't believe it had happened. She added: "When they told me the news I didn't know what to do so I called my husband Tony at work up at the Adult College. I just said, 'Tony, baby's found a bomb' and of course he didn't believe me at first. But then he got an hour off work and came home.

"We've only been here since Christmas so it was a case of thinking 'where are we!' Robert seems to be fine but it's been a bit funny for him with everyone talking about it and policemen interviewing him. The policeman told all the boys they'd been very brave."

Lyn and Graham Bousfield were also incredulous when their son Lee ran home and said he'd found a grenade. Lyn remembered: "Of course I didn't believe it but then Belinda and my other son came. I just couldn't take it in but all's well because no-one was hurt."

Darren knew that the grenade could be real because he was an army cadet and plans to join the army. His mother, Michelle, said: "It was his quick thinking that may have prevented a serious accident. I'm really very proud of him."

Headteacher of Central Lancaster school, Mrs Pat Askew, laughed when she remembered how she heard the news: "No they didn't contact me first, they just appeared and said 'We're here and we need to explode a bomb on your school fields!' They exploded it some time during the evening." POLICE confirmed that investigations were on-going as to how the grenade came to be on Patterdale Road yesterday.

Residents on the Ridge say there was a similar device found in the same area about 18 months ago but that was unconfirmed by police.

Father of Robert Cragg, Tony, is also involved in establishing a new residents' association. He told of his concerns: "First of all they didn't cordon the area off. I know that when they found a bomb at Heysham the whole area was cordoned off. People tell me there was a similar device found here about 12 to 18 months ago. I'm trying to find out if that's true.

"I've also been told the grenade was old but it had a brand new pin in it. Some builders said a policeman told them they thought it was planted."

Det Sgt Jim Duncan of Lancaster police commented yesterday: "Investigations are still on-going as to how this device has come to be in Lancaster."

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