Doncaster Roberts Road bomb scare: Footage shows army on Edlington estate after war shell found UK News

A resident said he understood a resident found a tin can in his shed and took it into his house without realizing what it was – then called the police as soon as he got away was realised.

A shocked mum today said her home was just yards from the evacuation zone – but decided to go out anyway because she was pregnant.

Lauren Hakin said she was woken by a police officer knocking on the door at 9am on Saturday morning. He told her not to worry, but that he needed to discuss a problem with one of the neighboring houses just behind his.

She said: ‘The two houses next to the address which found the war shell have been evacuated but luckily we were still within a safe enough distance to stay in our house and the police said they would let us know immediately if we had to leave, for our safety.

“We left anyway because I’m four months pregnant and we have a five-year-old at home.

“It was really worrying because at the time we didn’t know what the explosive was because the police were just reacting to a report of an explosive and couldn’t tell us much due to the nature of the incident – they just reassured us they would keep us safe and informed at all times.

“I would say that was really the worst part, was not knowing what the explosive was and hoping that we and our neighbors were okay.

“It was about trying to keep calm and trusting the police and the bomb disposal that everything would be fine and minimal disruption would have been caused.”

She said residents checked on elderly neighbors who may have been scared or worried.

Ms Hakin said she was unaware of any old military bases or depots near the homes, but said she had heard of a Lancaster bomber going down in Old Edlington, according to the local history.

A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said the specialist team and police were called ‘by a member of the public to report an unexploded First World War shell had been discovered’.

Residents were evacuated from their homes and a cordon was put in place while the shell was removed for safe disposal.

The statement added: “We thank the community for their patience and for evacuating their properties while the cordon was in place and the bomb disposal team carried out their work.

“The cord was removed around 12:30 p.m..”