Ref. 26054-SF004A World War II anti-tank missile found in a river near Cricklade was detonated by the Army last night.

The 15-inch rocket, which would have been fired by a fighter plane, was found in the River Key by volunteers who were restoring an aqueduct off the B4553 Cricklade to Swindon road.

Two Army bomb disposal experts from the Royal Logistics Corps carried out a controlled explosion at 9pm yesterday.

One officer carried the bomb to an area of rough ground, where it was X-rayed to discover if it was live.

It was placed in a small hole in the ground, and an electric charge was used to detonate it.

It exploded with a sharp crack, and sent up a cloud of black smoke.

Dave Warren, 62, of Purton Stoke, pulled the black metal device, which had fins at one end, out of the riverbed while he was clearing reeds at around 4.30pm yesterday.

Mr Warren, who spent two years in the Territorial Army, said: "I was clearing all sorts of junk out of the riverbed, when I just pulled out this thing which someone said looked like a bomb.

"I held it for around three minutes while I made sure everyone got away from the area.

"I didn't really know what to do, so I just put it in a bucket. I don't know why, but I just wasn't scared at all."

The police were called, and officers kept members of the public away from the site, half-a-mile south of Cricklade on the B4553, until the bomb disposal team arrived.

Police closed a small section of the road while the explosion was carried out. And one of the waterway volunteers, Corinne Watson, was allowed to press the button to trigger the detonation.

The Army has warned that there may be other missiles nearby as they were fired in salvos of two and four.

The volunteers were carrying out restoration work on an aqueduct which carried the now defunct North Wilts Canal over the River Key.

Mr Warren, a retired production manager who worked at Rover in Swindon, was unblocking culverts when he discovered the bomb.

He was one of several members of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust who joined a group of volunteers on a working holiday restoring the aqueduct.