A group of metal detector enthusiasts got more than they bargained for during a trip to a Huddersfield canal.

Members of the Huddersfield-based Team of Yorkshire Metal Detecting Group were searching Huddersfield Broad Canal on Sunday when they pulled out a large machete.

Team members were using powerful magnets attached to ropes when one searcher, Marcin Lamch, hauled out the machete from an area of canal beneath a bridge, just off Leeds Road.

Team members were a little taken aback at the find, although they have previously discovered bullets during searches of waterways.

Marcin Lamch (left) and members of the Team of Yorkshire Metal Detecting Group hand the machete in to Huddersfield police
Marcin Lamch (left) and members of the Team of Yorkshire Metal Detecting Group hand the machete in to Huddersfield police

Group members later handed the machete to officers at Huddersfield police station.

Marek Zacharko, a member of the Huddersfield-based group, said that objects such as weapons and ammunition were always handed in to the local police station.

"In the past we have found ammunition, bullets, in the canal. You have to inform the local police station. It is the same if we find a knife or a gun."

The machete was dragged out of the canal on a 'magnet fishing' trip which was attended by three members of the group along with Huddersfield Examiner journalist Andrew Robinson and son Harry, four.

Machete found in Huddersfield Broad Canal
Machete found in Huddersfield Broad Canal

Andrew, who had asked to attend the search in order to write a feature on the hobby, said: "I was expecting a few tin cans and other bits of rubbish to come out. I was very surprised when they pulled out a machete which still had the bar code on the blade.

"The machete was a bit rusty around the handle. I imagine it might have been thrown or dropped in the water in recent weeks or months.

"It got everyone wondering whether it had been used in a crime and what kind of person had disposed of it."

Magnet 'fishing' on the Huddersfield Broad Canal
Magnet 'fishing' on the Huddersfield Broad Canal

The discovery of the weapon comes in the wake of two machete attacks in Huddersfield.

A 32-year-old man was seriously injured on Sunday after being attacked by a man armed with a machete.

He received a serious head injury when he was assaulted by a man at the Spa Car Wash on Manchester Road in Thornton Lodge.

And on Saturday teatime, a 17-year-old youth was seriously injured when he was attacked by a male with a machete type weapon in Arnold Street, Birkby.

He suffered serious hand injuries which police described as "life-changing".

Police are appealing for information.