Garden ornament sparks bomb investigation (From Essex County Standard)

Garden ornament sparks bomb investigation

6:21pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News

A GARDEN ornament sparked a frantic search for an exploded Second World War bomb at a quayside building site.

Police and a bomb squad were called to King Edward Quay, in the Hythe, after a construction worker thought he had dug up the device.

Nearby residents described how police cars arrived at the building site, run by the Gallagher Group, at about 3.45pm today.

“I didn’t know what to think,” said Tracey Beacham, 34.

“All the construction workers were evacuated but nobody came near us to ask us to leave, so I thought they must have it under control.

“They were here for about an hour and then, just all of a sudden, they left and we were none the wiser.”

Robert Harley, 24, added: “I thought ‘is it Friday?’ because all the workers were leaving in their droves.

“But the we saw the police and bomb squad turn up and thought something might be wrong.”

Workers at Colchester Kawasaki, which is opposite the site, said althought police and bomb experts were inspecting the site, no more than 30metres away from them, they had not been told what was happening.

“We have a lot of kit here, so it would have been nice to have been told there might be a bomb.
“But they must have found what they were looking for, decided it wasn’t a bomb and left.

An Essex Police spokeswoman said: “Police in Colchester were alerted after a construction worker at King Edward Quay who believed he had unearthed a Second World War mortar bomb shortly after 3.40pm.

“The bomb squad attended the scene and moved the item, which turned out to be a garden ornament.”