Cake mistaken for a bomb in Stansted

A children's cake sparked a bomb scare after airport security staff mistook it for an explosive device.

Justin Barrett was taken away by armed guards after security at Stansted Airport spotted Wiggles the Caterpillar cake - which was intended as a birthday present for his nine-year-old son Freddie - in his luggage and thought it was a bomb.

The 41-year-old man was flying out to Spain to celebrate the youngster's birthday with him and the rest of his family in Alicante, where they had flown a week earlier.

He said: "I had the cake in my hand luggage and customs asked to check inside after it had passed through the X-ray machine.

"To the officer’s surprise there was a chocolate Caterpillar cake in the bag. He then swabbed the inside of the bag and put it into a machine.

"That’s when it ended up going bleep and the customs officer said it had found traces of explosives. They took me to a room and began a thorough search of my body."

It was later revealed plastic wrapping on the cake was responsible for setting off the alarm.