Road cordoned off after grenade found
RESIDENTS who were evacuated after a pair of hand grenades were found in a loft are back in their homes.
Police cordoned off a 100-yard stretch of Jessie Road in Southsea and the surrounding area.
A widow had been looking for her husband's will when she came across a briefcase which had two grenades inside.
Police evacuated Jessie Road and the surrounding streets after the find as the navy bomb experts considered detonating the briefcase out on the street.
At around 5pm all the houses were evacuated, with a rest centre set up at the Devonshire Baptist Church hall as part of Portsmouth's major incident response programme.
It meant residents had somewhere to sit and wait while officers from Hampshire Constabulary, Hampshire Fire and Rescue and the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Team worked to make the area safe.
After a long wait, the navy bomb disposal experts decided to destroy the grenades in what is known as a 'disruption' – a controlled detonation.
It went off with a soft bang at around 6.30pm.
But the cordons remained in place while officers investigated the house to see if there were other items likely to pose a danger.
A police source said a number of blank-firing weapons had also been found, but they had been made safe and posed no danger.
Superintendent Neil Sherrington said he was pleased with the way the emergency services and the council worked together.
He added: 'We do plan for these incidents and I'm pleased to say those plans have come to fruition without any major problems being identified.
'We're just pleased that everyone has co-operated with the request to evacuate.
'It is in the interests of safety and their own well-being.'
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
