Airport security staff confiscated a schoolboy's milkshake - but missed a bullet he was carrying.

Ben Thetford, 11, from Heathfield, passed through airport security at Heathrow's troubled terminal five on his way to Bulgaria for a skiing trip with friends from Parkside School.

A man in the same security queue had to swallow some of his baby's milk to prove it was not liquid explosives.

But bungling security staff managed to miss the five-inch long bullet and instead relieved Ben of his chocolate milkshake.

The bullet, which contained no charge, had been part of a school project on World War Two. After the project Ben threw his work in his bag and forgot about it until he came to leave Sofia airport.

Mr Wise found the shell and bullet separately with his metal detector near his home in Battle. He believes both were from a Spitfire involved in a dog fight above the Sussex countryside.

Ben and his father stuck the bullet to the shell to make it appear real. But Ben forgot it was in his bag and wandered through Heathrow's airport security unaware.

It was only when he came to return to England that Bulgarian officials picked up on the bullet and confiscated it.