UNEXPLODED mortars and a round of bullets were found just a foot below the ground when a builder was doing construction work at the back of his house.

Adam Kemp, of Mill Road, Colchester, discovered the ammunition when he was digging a footing for his garage in his garden at 5.20pm on Sunday.

The property backs onto Link Close, and police cordoned off the road for more than three hours while the Ministry of Defence were called to inspect the devices.

Residents were told to stay in their homes and move their cars away from the scene to avoid them being damaged and the MOD Explosives Ordnance Disposal Unit eventually carried out a controlled explosion just after 8.30pm.

Mr Kemp was relaxed about finding the explosives, and believed they would have gone off long before he found them had they been live.

He said: “Before I found them I had already been hitting them with a shovel so if they were going to go off then they would already had done.

“I had already touched them with the shovel and smacked it with a 14 pound hammer so they were not going to explode but the neighbour wanted to call the police.

“They sent someone to do a controlled explosion from Reading and I heard a loud bang.

“For the last six years people have been running all over them and playing football on the top so if it would have gone off a long time ago if it was going to.

“They had obviously been down there for years.

“I am not expert in ammunition, but I had a look online and I think they were from the Second World War.”

Mr Kemp continued with the work after the explosion had been carried out.