A NORTH-EAST man who picked up a live bomb and kept it in his jacket pocket was last night hailed as the luckiest man alive.

Neville Bougard, 55, had picked up the mystery metal object after finding it beside some roadworks.

Intrigued by what it might be, he decided to take it home - a 15-mile journey on three buses.

He found the device lying near Frankland Prison, at Brasside, near Durham City.

He popped it into his pocket and got on the bus home, changing services twice on his way to the Flint Hill area of Stanley, County Durham.

It was only when his son, Aaron, 30, checked on the Internet that the family discovered it was the fuse of a Second World War mortar with more explosive potential than a modern hand-grenade.

They called the police, who stood guard over the device until Army bomb disposal experts arrived from Catterick, in North Yorkshire, to defuse it.

They told the family it was indeed a live bomb and could have exploded at any time.

Neville's wife, Doreen, 52, said: "The bomb disposal officer told Neville that he should go and buy every National Lottery ticket he could lay his hands on because he was the luckiest man alive.

"Neville had brought it home on the bus with him and then threw it on to the settee beside our son and asked 'What do you make of that?'

"He went and checked on the Internet and found it was something similar to a Second World War American device.

"We contacted the police, who took it out into the garden in a white bag and called in the bomb disposal team from Catterick. They tested it and found it was live with an ounce of explosive inside and could have gone off at any time."

The family was told to wait indoors while the bomb disposal team packed the device in sand and took it away.

Mrs Bougard said: "My husband could have been killed. It could have gone off in his pocket - he's still in pieces about it.

"I found it quite amusing because I had just spent the whole week digging the garden to lay a patio, so if we had thrown it in the garden it might have moved the soil for us."

Last night, Durham Police confirmed that its officers in Stanley had been called out shortly before 10pm on Thursday night.

A police spokeswoman said: "It appeared to be some kind of explosive device so our officers made contact with the bomb disposal people."

The area where the bomb was found, close to a former ammunitions depot, was also checked for more devices.