Man describes moment he discovered Brighton beach 'bomb'

A cordon was set up on Brighton beach on the morning of New Year’s Day, as bomb disposal teams attended the incident and destroyed the device. 

Some readers reported hearing the blast from the explosion as far away as Moulsecoomb.

Mathew Medway-Gash, 50, was walking along Brighton beach with his girlfriend, Melissa, when he discovered the unexploded bomb.

Mathew thought the object was a bomb straightaway and alerted police (Image: Mathew Medway-Gash)

He said: “We had originally gone down for a swim, but we decided to walk towards the pier from where we were. That’s when we discovered the shell lying on the beach.

“I found a mortar round in Southampton when I was a teenager with my brother, so I thought straightaway that it was a bomb and advised my girlfriend to keep away from it.”

Mathew said that he spotted some police nearby and told them about the object, which it is believed had washed ashore.

“An officer came to have a look with me and he agreed that it looked quite dodgy,” he said.

A suspected Second World War shell was destroyed by a bomb disposal team on New Year's Day (Image: Simon Dack)

After leaving the scene, he later saw on the news that the object was exploded on the beach by bomb disposal teams.

“It’s one thing starting the new year off with a bang, but I wasn’t expecting that sort of a bang,” Mathew said.

People lined nearby streets while the bomb disposal unit dealt with the incident, with some capturing the explosion on camera.

An old WW2 bomb washed up on Brighton shore so they closed the area, buried it, and detonated it. This is right outside the gym I go to. Pretty wild and fun to see. pic.twitter.com/17uxC7dF89

— Derek Ward (@DerekPunsWard) January 1, 2023

One witness reported seeing the squad taking sand from a nearby volleyball court to bury the unknown device before it was destroyed.

A police spokesman said: “It is unknown what it was that was found on the beach.

“The explosives ordnance disposal team declared that it was worth destroying at the scene, rather than taken away.”

Bomb disposal teams have been called to several incidents over the last year in Sussex following reports of unexploded weapons, including a grenade and even a mortar shell, which was reported to have been “innocently bought by a member of the public”.