A woman sparked a bomb scare when she dressed an "ornamental" wartime shell in a baseball cap and sunglasses - next to a bottle of rum.

Carly Morris jokingly posted a picture of "Shelly" - which has been in her garden for 15 years - and pretended she was worried after discovering it on a Deal beach.

But a concerned friend took it seriously and phoned police, with officers arriving at her Ringwould home at 2am today.

A bomb disposal squad arrived a few hours later and took the device, said to have been deactivated, away.

In one of several pictures posted on Facebook, Carly dressed "Shelly" in the cap and glasses next to a bottle of Captain Morgan rum and glass.

She said: "We were just having a bit of banter on Facebook, but someone took it too seriously and reported it.

"We have had it for more than 15 years and has just been a garden ornament - it was a practice shell.

"We had the police knock at 2am and bomb the squad came and had a look at 8am and took her away."

A police spokesman said: "Kent Police was made aware of a possible unexploded bomb at a property in Queen's Rise, Ringwould, Deal, at 10.23pm on Thursday June 20.

"Officers attended the address and it was established the artillery shell had been at the property for more than 15 years and the owners believed it to be deactivated.

"The bomb disposal squad were called and were due to attend the property on Friday morning."