A BOMB disposal team detonated a live hand grenade yesterday (Tuesday) after it was found in a town centre park by workmen draining a pond.

Police were called to the Town Centre Gardens on St George’s Way in Stevenage at about 10.30am.

The Army’s bomb disposal unit was dispatched to the scene, as were paramedics and firefighters.

St George’s Way, from the junction of Six Hills Way to Fairlands Way, was closed, and an initial 70-metre perimeter cordon was extended to 150 metres, preventing access to Cutty’s Lane and Silam Road.

St George’s Way multi-storey car park was shut down, with motorists unable to collect parked vehicles.

Buildings were not evacuated, but residents in nearby flats were told to stay away from their windows.

Barrels of diesel close to the grenade forced bomb disposal experts to move the explosive device to flat open land behind Silam Court.

A hole was dug and sandbags piled on top of the grenade before it was detonated in a controlled explosion at about 2.20pm.

All cordons were lifted shortly after 3pm.

A spokesman for Herts Police said the grenade “had a metal shell and it was very rusty”. She said the bomb squad “couldn’t examine it too closely, but the presumption is that it was very old and it could have been from World War II”.