Bomb disposal experts detonated an old wartime shell which had been found washed up on a Kent beach.

The shell, thought to date from the Second World War, was discovered at around 4.30pm yesterday evening on Sandgate beach.

Teams from the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal unit attended but decided they could not detonate last night due to the incoming tide.

A team returned to the site this morning after marking the shell's location and detonated it at low tide at 5am today.

Folkestone Coastguard and Kent Police were also called with a cordon set up around the location to prevent people walking near it.

A spokesman for Folkestone Coastguard said: "We were paged by Dover coastguard at 6.12pm to a report by Kent Police of ordnance on the beach at Sandgate.

"On attendance a WW2 shell was near the low water line with an incoming tide so the location was marked.

"They moved the shell out to sea and detonated it. Apologies to the Sandgate Esplanade residents who were rudely awoken."

A Kent Police spokesman confirmed the report of a suspected unexploded bomb and explained the decision to detonate this morning as it was submerged under the water due to the incoming tide last night.