Kids find ‘pistol’ while playing in dried up reservoir near Manchester home

A Manchester couple were left stunned when their two young children found what appeared to be a gun while playing in a reservoir.

Annabelle Coatman, seven, and Lincoln Buckle, six, found the ‘pistol’ in a dried up reservoir while on a walk with their parents Jeny Chapman, 34, and Matt Coatman, 49.

The family feared the firearm was real after inspecting it and posting it on social media and receiving numerous comments saying it is a pistol.

Matt, from Mossley in Tameside, said: “We had been down the local reservoir, and obviously they are quite dry at the moment.

“Annabelle and Lincoln wanted to go down and explore, then Annabelle picked the gun up but she thought it was a car light initially.

“She was like ‘oh I’ve found a car light’, and then she went ‘oh, it’s a gun’.

“She shouted Lincoln over, and they were both looking at it. I went over and had a look to see what state the gun was in.

‘At first I didn’t know if it was a real gun or not, but when I felt the weight of it, I knew it was either real or a very good replica.

“I was expecting it to be plastic, but it felt real.”

Matt said that their children love looking for treasure, and they were happy to find something.

He said: “They were just doing what they love doing, they were just exploring and enjoying themselves.

“They were just doing what kids love to do, looking for treasure, and they found that.”

Jeny posted a photo of the gun to Facebook, to ask people if it was real or not, and most people believed that it was a pistol.

The police then asked for it to be handed in, as they wanted to take a look at it.

Mark said: “We’ve not heard anything back from the police yet.

“When we took it to the police station, they put it in an evidence bag and took it in.

“So I think they will run some tests on it or something.”

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police later said: “The weapon is not real and had not been attempted to be converted. “But we’d like to thank the person for reporting it and making us aware, they absolutely did the right thing.”