CWMBRAN town centre was brought to a standstill yesterday after a wartime rocket was taken to the police station.

The station, magistrates court, health centre and nearby houses were evacuated at 12.50pm and shoppers were warned to stay away.

Tudor Road was closed to traffic for two hours until a bomb squad unit from Hereford could deal with the danger.

The team removed the live Second World War 25mm rocket for disposal. The device was brought into the police station by local man Peter Shephard (pictured) who found it in the woods behind the Owens Cornings glass fibre factory at New Inn.

He said: "It's about 18 inches long and about eight to ten inches in diameter, and weighs about 15 pounds.

"I found it at about 11.30am with my metal detector and when I saw it I thought, 'It's a bomb'.

"I didn't want to leave it there because children might find it, so I brought it in to the police station.

"The police didn't recognise it at first. I was there for about 10 minutes before anyone realised what it was."

This isn't the first time the 35-year-old father of three from Tern Court, Thornhill, has found military devices in the woods.

"That's the third one I've found and the second one I've handed in to the police," he said. "I took the police out to the first one I uncovered, and the last one fell apart when I dug it up but this one was intact.

"I've just finished work as a welder at Llanwern for Christmas, so I thought I'd go out for an hour or two.

"I haven't been metal detecting that long. My sport is scuba-diving." Inspector Mark Sutton told the Argus: "The rocket was live, so it has been taken away to be disposed of in a controlled environment.

"It was kept out at the back of the building by the garages until they arrived. "I would appeal to anyone who finds things of this nature to leave it in situ and call us. It is far easier to deal with something like this there than here at the police station, where members of the public are put in danger.

"Closing the town centre down at this Christmas period caused some difficulties but we have had no complaints."