Ipswich scrap metal merchant finds £20,000 in safe

The haul was made up of some legal tender and some old notes

A scrap metal dealer handling four locked safes found £20,000 while cutting up the final one for recycling.

The safes came into Sackers scrap metal dealers in Great Blakenham, near Ipswich, six weeks ago.

The company said while it was not uncommon to receive safes for scrapping, "it is unusual for them to be filled with anything".

They were being snipped open with a mobile shear when staff noticed one was stuffed with notes and coin bags.

A spokeswoman for Sackers said the money was made up of some legal tender and some old notes.

"It had clearly been in there for many years as it was dusty and wet from being in the rain," she said.

The cash-stuffed safe was one of four being cut up for scrap

Yard manager Kevin Harrington said: "We often get safes in and we tend to store them up as they are quite difficult to deal with.

"It had been in there a long while, the money was very dusty and we didn't count it all but we guesstimate that there was £20,000 in there but not all legal tender any more, which shows how long it had been left for."

The company, which has been in business since 1920, handed the cash to the police.

A financial investigator at Suffolk Police has told the firm there is no way of identifying the owner of the safe and the cash will be given to charity.

Sacker's said a yard member noticed the money while cutting up the last safe