Evacuation after man takes WW2 explosive home

Rob Parkin found the suspected WW2 bomb while walking 20 years ago

Several residential streets were evacuated after a man told the police about a suspected World War Two bomb he had brought home to his garden.

Rob Parkin, from Rachub, Gwynedd, discovered what he thought was a mortar at a quarry 20 years earlier "and stupidly brought it home".

"It crossed my mind occasionally that maybe there was a bomb sitting in the garden", said Mr Parkin. "But it wasn't until the children were playing near it recently that I thought I better do something about it".

Mr Parkin called the police who "evacuated everybody in the 100 metre (328 ft) radius".

Mr Parkin feared the object in his garden was a mortar bomb, but said it turned out to be a smoke bomb.

"It wasn't high explosive but it was still potentially explosive so it could have gone off and caused some damage of some sort had it been thrown about," he said.

'A bit daft'

North Wales Police called in the Army's bomb squad, who put the device in a container and took it away to dispose of it safely.

Mr Parkin said he understood the substances used in such devices could become more unstable and volatile over time.

Mr Parkin said he felt "a bit daft" but now had "peace of mind" that the potentially dangerous object was no longer just a few feet from his house.

"The bomb squad guys said, whatever you do, don't go around picking things up of that nature in future - which I won't do," he said.

Mr Parkin's neighbours on Britannia Street in Rachub had to be evacuated while the bomb squad dealt with the object

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said its ordnance search and disposal unit "was requested to attend an address in Gwynedd on 27 July at the request of the local police".

"An item was recovered back to troop location to be reduced to scrap," the MoD spokesperson continued.

North Wales Police said it was called to a report of "unexploded mortar".

"Following enquiries, members of the Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team were called to safely dispose of the ordnance."

Inspector Ian Roberts said: “Thank you to Byw Iach, Bethesda leisure centre, for allowing residents to use the centre, and to residents for their patience, whilst the ordnance was safely and quickly removed from the area.”