Swallowed fork back after decade

Lee Gardner told surgeons in Barnsley he had accidentally swallowed the nine-inch fork a decade ago.

But Mr Gardner, 40, said he had forgotten he had eaten it as doctors at the time assured him it would pass through his system naturally.

Mr Gardner said he was playing around with a plastic fork in his mouth and gagged, accidentally swallowing it, but it had never caused him problems.

Doctors at Barnsley Hospital found that the prongs had pressed on the stomach lining causing an ulcer that led to the bleeding.