Suspicious package at Old Trafford was training device

A suspicious package which prompted the evacuation of Manchester United's stadium on Sunday before it was subject to a controlled explosion has been identified as a training device, police said.

The discovery of the device, earlier described by police as "incredibly lifelike" but not viable, forced the club's Premier League match against Bournemouth to be abandoned.

"Following today's controlled explosion, we have since found out that the item was a training device which had accidentally been left by a private company following a training exercise involving explosive search dogs," Assistant Chief Constable John O'Hare of the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.

"Whilst this item did not turn out to be a viable explosive, on appearance this device was as real as could be, and the decision to evacuate the stadium was the right thing to do, until we could be sure that people were not at risk."