Schoolboy magnet fishing managed to spark bomb scare that shut M5 motorway for an hour

A schoolboy accidentally caused tailbacks of five miles on the M5 after finding what was initially thought to be an unexploded bomb.

Finley Hargood, nine, was magnet fishing with his brother McKenzie and dad Scott when he pulled a metal tube with wires out of the water.

Not knowing what the mystery object was, Scott decided to call in police over fears it could have been something sinister.

They alerted the bomb disposal squad and one of the busiest motorways was shut on Saturday afternoon.

Scott told the Express and Star: ‘Nobody is 100 per cent sure what it is, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

‘We didn’t know what it was at first and he always comes to me if he doesn’t know what it is.

‘I popped the lid and there was a solid thing in it with a fuse and we thought it was really dodgy.’

After the discovery was made in the canal below the M5 Oldbury Viaduct, police immediately closed down the motorway in both directions between Junction 1 for West Bromwich and Junction 2 for Oldbury.

Motorists reported tailbacks of almost five miles after the road was shut for an hour.

The bomb disposal unit was drafted in and now experts think the ‘bomb’ was an old flare.

The pyrotechnic has now been destroyed and the motorway has since reopened.