A woman from Harrogate has spoken of her shock at discovering there was a hand grenade in her garden today.
Sandra Warburton’s family home on Gordon Avenue, in Bilton, became the centre of a police operation today when the explosive device was found.
The house has been in Ms Warburton’s family for 60 years but it was only today, the day after she sold it to her daughter, that the grenade was discovered.
Ms Warburton, who received a call from her son-in-law this morning saying he’d found the device, said she was shocked and bewildered. She added:
“It could have been there when we were little”.
Her son-in-law contacted North Yorkshire Police, which quickly responded by placing a cordon on the street and giving nearby residents the option to evacuate.
Two bomb disposal experts arrived just after 1.15pm and were able to safely remove the device and leave, along with other police officers, about 30 minutes later.
Ms Warburton said:
“These things just don’t happen. My son-in-law that found it this morning, he just rang and said someone was on their way to deal with it. He was moving all sorts of things around and he found it in the garden.
“But they’ve found it and said it was fine now. I just can’t believe it.”
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Police cordoned off three streets in Bilton after the discovery on Gordon Avenue, just off Bilton Lane, late this morning.
A police statement said:
“Police evacuated a small number of houses whilst the Ministry of Defence made an assessment on the device.
“The MoD recovered the device and the cordon is now lifted.”