Police to examine gun pulled from water in Grimsby by magnet fisherman

Police say a gun that was pulled out of a river in Grimsby by a magnet fisherman has been sent for forensic examination.

Houdini Richards – who uses a magnet to search for metallic valuables in waterways – was fishing in the River Freshney behind the town's Primark store last week when he found what he believed to be a loaded weapon.

He said: "As soon as it came out, I felt the weight of it straight away. When it fell off the magnet I felt that it was a live weapon."We chucked it into a bucket to wash it off and obviously we checked the safety and tried to get the magazine out."It had been encrusted but by that time you could feel it was a really heavy-loaded weapon." Mr Richards said he had handed the gun in to Humberside Police.He said: "They did ask us if we'd handled the weapon but, being a professional magnet fisher, we always have rubber gloves on and we never touch any of the items we pull out so we can preserve any fingerprints if there is anything on the weapon, and so we can hand it in in the condition we found it in."

A spokesperson for Humberside Police said: "The weapon was handed into the local police who made enquiries with our specialist firearms officers.

"Due to the level of corrosion it was hard to establish if the weapon was an imitation or a live weapon so it has now been transported to a specialist unit in Leeds be made safe and for forensic examination."