A mystery motorist sparked a bomb scare when he handed in a Second World War mortar shell at a police station.

He told officers he had been driving around Sussex with the large pointed shell in the back of his car after finding it at Birling Gap about a week ago.

He walked into Eastbourne Police station in Grove Road at 9pm yesterday to hand over the rusting shell to counter staff.

He refused to leave his name and staff called in military explosives experts from Folkestone to deal with the shell, about a foot tall and five inches in diameter.

A police spokesman said: "He'd been driving around all week, not realising the potential consequences, and for some unexplained reason decided to hand it in."

Officers evacuated the police station and two prisoners being held in cells were released on bail.

A police spokesman said: "They couldn't believe their luck."

Nearby businesses and homes were also evacuated, together with the town hall where a team of people employed in a 24-hour lifeline scheme for pensioners and the disabled were working.

Three pensioners were taken from their homes near the police station and driven to the police offices in Hammond Drive, Eastbourne.

Road diversions were set up, sending traffic down Hyde Road and into Gildridge Road to avoid the police station.

Officers from the explosives unit arrived and removed a fuse from the shell to make it safe at about 11.43pm.

Inspector Tim Mottram, of Eastbourne police, said: "It is extremely unusual for someone to actually come into the front office and hand in explosives.

"Normally we get a call saying they have found something in their garden and we send people out to them.

"Bearing in mind it had been in this chap's boot for a week you would presume it was safe but with us being in the town centre we just had to play it safe.

"But it didn't half give the people in the front office a scare."