Pembrokeshire couple whose garden ornament turned out to be a live bomb 'sorry to see it go'

A Welsh couple who kept a live bomb as a garden ornament for more than 70 years are "sorry to see it go" after it was taken away to be detonated.

Garden-lover Jeff Edwards from Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire said: “It’s been part of my life all those years. It was sad to think of it being blown to smithereens.”

The 64lb naval bomb had been outside the house since just after the Second World War. The previous occupants of the property, the Morris family had sunk it into cement in the front garden.

Mr Edwards said: “The father used to go around delivering lemonade on a horse and cart and was known as Pops Morris.

“He found it on Broad Haven beach and brought it back on his horse and cart, it has been in front of the house ever since.”

The bomb which dates from 1880 to 1890 is believed to have been fired from a warship using Broad Haven beach as target practice.

Jeffrey and Sian moved into the property in 1982 and painted the unusual object red to match their windowsills and it was assumed the bomb did not have any charge. Sian used to bang her trowel on it to get rid of any loose earth.

But last Wednesday (29 November) a police officer attended visited the house to take photos of the device to send on to the MoD. To their surprise, they were told that the bomb squad would be arriving the next day.

An X-ray of the unexploded device confirmed it still had a small charge.

Mr Edwards said: “There was still a little bit of life in the old girl. They couldn’t leave it here just in case it decided to blow.”

After being slowly dug out of the concrete by experts, the bomb was taken under police escort to a quarry in Walwyn’s Castle. It was covered in five tonnes of sand and then detonated the next day.

The Ministry of Defence said: "We can confirm that on 30 Nov 23, Ashchurch Troop, 721 EOD Sqn, 11 EOD&S Regt RLC, responded at the request of Dyfed-Powys Police to a suspect item of ordnance.

"The EOD team assessed the item and determined it to be a 64lb naval projectile which was removed from the scene for subsequent explosive demolition."

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