Retailer TK Maxx has ordered a withdrawal of one of its walking sticks which they said unknowingly contained a 20-inch sword.

The weapon was found concealed inside the product by a customer who then contacted the News of the World.

A spokeswoman for the company, which has stores in Shrewsbury and Telford, told the News of the World: “With regards to the walking cane, these were artisan pieces and our buyers were not aware that they concealed blades.

“We took urgent steps to remove them from the floor yesterday therefore they are not available in any of our 220 stores.”

The controversy comes just days after it was revealed that the company was selling hooded jackets with an attached pen knife. The retailer withdrew those products as well.

TK Maxx has posted an “important customer statement” on its website expressing surprise over the controversies of last week.

It stated: “TK Maxx takes the safety of its customers and associates very seriously. It is of the utmost importance to us. We have been surprised by events this week and want to reassure the public that these incidents were by no means intentional and that we greatly regret that this has occurred.

“We buy a huge range of products from thousands of international and reputable brand owners. But while we have processes in place and staff training programmes to prevent dangerous articles being sold in our stores, clearly our current system has not been robust enough.”

“As a responsible company of our size, we are re-examining our processes and will strengthen them in order to prevent this from happening again,” it added.