Pembrokeshire couple’s shock as garden ornament revealed to be bomb | UK News

A couple in Pembrokeshire, Wales, say they were ‘knocked for six’ when a garden ornament which had lived in their garden for years was actually a live bomb.

Sian and Jeffrey Edwards thought the item was a ‘dummy’ bomb with no charge – and Sian even said she used to bang her trowel on it to remove earth after gardening.

But a police officer knocked on their door on Wednesday night to tell them the item, in their front garden in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, would need to be removed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The next day, the bomb squad arrived and blew up the 64lb (29kg) ‘naval projectile’.

The bomb is thought to date from the late 19th century – and tests proved the bomb was live, but with only a tiny amount of charge.

It was taken to a disused quarry in Walwyn’s Castle where it was covered with five tonnes of sand and detonated.

Sian and Jeffrey said the overnight wait for the bomb squad was sleepless, as they were warned the entire street might need to be evacuated.

Jerry, 77, has lived in the same street since he was three and said he was sad to see the bomb go.

He explained: ‘We didn’t sleep a wink all night. It knocked us for six.

‘I told the bomb disposal unit “we’re not leaving the house, we’re staying here. If it goes up, we’re going to go up with it”.

‘It was an old friend. I’m so sorry that the poor old thing was blown to pieces.’

Jerry was given some of the item’s history by the Morris family, who owned the home and found the bomb more than 100 years ago, when he and Sian bought their home in 1982.

‘Warships for the Royal Navy used to drop anchor in St Brides Bay and point their guns towards Broad Haven and open fire,’ he told the BBC.

‘They used to use the sands for target practice. They’d make sure there was no one on the sands, mind!

‘Well Pop Morris, who went around delivering lemonade, was going down to Broad Haven with his horse and cart and found the shell.

‘He struggled back up the beach with it, put it on the back of his cart and had a very bouncy seven-mile ride back home.

‘He plonked it upright in the front courtyard and that’s where it remained.

‘It stood there during two world wars.’

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