Fears come to the surface for Pond swimmer

editorial@hamhigh.co.uk
18 May 2007

A WOMAN'S dip in Hampstead Heath ladies' bathing pond turned into a horror movie scene when she had the fright of her life on Saturday morning.

The woman was enjoying her swim when she saw a disembodied hand coming up through the water towards her. The petrified swimmer dashed back to dry land, screaming all the way and alerted lifeguards to her horrific discovery.

After the lifeguards ventured out on a boat and failed to spot anything, the Met police were called in.

The Met's diving team shut off the pond for three hours as they searched for the mysterious hand.

Eventually the divers got to the bottom of the fishy fingers - they found a Marigold glove filled with sand floating just below the surface of the water.

A spokeswoman for the City of London Corporation said: "The woman genuinely believed it was a hand and was terrified.

"We have to take anything like this very seriously, but thankfully it turned out to be a false alarm.

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