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Couple find WW2 grenade in garden
A LANGLEY Mill couple have spoken of their horror at finding a World War Two grenade in their back garden.
Chris Nixon, 28, of Bailey Brook Drive was digging in his back garden last Wednesday, March 10, when he made the discovery.
He immediately shouted for his partner Ebony, who dialled 999. Police arrived within minutes and residents on the street were immediately evacuated while a bomb squad were called out to investigate.
Chris said: "It was only a few inches down. It was covered in mud and rust – I picked it up and then realised what it was and put it down again and quickly walked off."
Ebony, 27, said: "I was in the kitchen and Chris was digging in the garden when he called me and said, 'I don't want to sound funny, but I think I've just found a grenade, come and have a look', so I strolled up the garden.
"I said I did think it looked like one but it was covered in mud so was
hard to tell.
"I dialled 999 and they told us to get back in the house and to stay there and they would send out an emergency team.
"Ten minutes later the police arrived and called for backup when they realised it was a grenade. They then called the bomb squad."
The couple, who have five children, were told to turn everything electrical off before evacuating the house.
All of their immediate neighbours, along with residents of Horsley Crescent whose houses backed on to their back garden were also evacuated, or told to stay away from their windows in case of an explosion.
"The neighbours were concerned. They didn't know what was going on," said Ebony.
After recovering the grenade, police took it away.
Luckily, it wasn't live, but had it been there was a chance it could have exploded because it had been disturbed.
And Ebony spoke of her relief that most of her children, aged between one and nine, were at school at the time.
She said: "If it had been a Saturday all the children would have been here and we would have had to try to get them all out.
"The baby was here and the others were at school – if it had been a weekend it would have been different because the children are always running around in the garden."
She added: "We have lived here two years, it's only because we started gardening that we found it.
"We were worried there might be more in there and the police said there have been a couple of other grenades found in Langley Mill over the last couple of months."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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