A nan was left stunned when she found a 12-inch Rambo machete in a sofa she had bought on Facebook marketplace.

Grandmother-of-two Shirley McNally, 82, bought the suite from someone locally for £180 after seeing it advertised on Facebook in March 2020.

She enjoyed the soaf for a year before deciding to sell it after grandson Keenan McNally, 33, admitted he thought the pattern was "disgusting".

But as Shirley was giving the sofa a clean before it was due to be collected, she was shocked to find the huge knife under one of the cushions.

Unsure of what to do with the weapon, Shirley called Essex Police - who instructed her to bring it into the police station.

Shirley said: “I decided to give the sofa a quick Febreze and a hoover before the next owner came to collect it.

“I put my hand down the side of the cushions and felt something hard.

“It felt like a wallet and I thought: ‘Result!’

“I couldn’t believe it when I pulled out a huge Rambo machete.”

Echo:

Shirley decided to buy the sofa after seeing it whilst browsing Facebook Marketplace in March 2020.

Shirley said: “I saw a picture of the sofa and thought: 'Oh that looks nice, I think I’ll get that.'

“These two slightly unsavoury guys arrived in a van with the suite - to drop it off - but it was alright.

“It wasn’t one of those ones where you sit down and you’re basically on the floor and you can’t get up again so I quite liked it.”

Echo:

But after some criticism from grandson Keenan, a hair stylist, Shirley decided to put the sofa up for sale on April 10 2021 and she had sold just two days later.

“My grandson said 'Nan, that is absolutely awful,' and told me it’s the sort of sofa you find in an old people's home,” Shirley said.

“Then I began to hate the darn thing so I put it up for sale.

“Once someone wanted it I thought I better freshen it up a bit and give it a bit of a Febreze spray and take off the cushions to make sure nothing had fallen down the side.

“I put my hand down the side of the sofa and thought: 'Oh what’s that?'"

Shirley, from Harlow, was stunned when she found the 12-inch Rambo machete.

She said: “I got more than I bargained for when I went down the side of it - I just thought I might come across some loose change.

Echo:

“My first reaction was: 'Oh my god!' It’s got the leather sheath and everything.

“When I pulled it out I was shocked, it weighs a tonne.

“It could chop somebody's legs right off.

“I don’t even want it in the house and to think it’s been there for a year and I had no idea.

“Who knows what somebody else might have used it for?

“Now it’s just sitting in my dining room.

“Imagine if I’d given the sofa away with it still there."