Keyham residents are left to clear up

GRATEFUL FOR BOMB REMOVAL BUT ANGRY ABOUT AFTERMATH

- WILLIAM TELFORD

RESIDENTS say they have been left feeling “shocked”, “traumatised” and “violated”, after their homes and gardens were trashed during the Keyham bomb removal.

People living in St Michael Avenue, in Keyham, returned home to find backyards wrecked and even damage inside their houses.

While stressing they are grateful to the Army for removing the 500kg World War Two bomb and saving their properties from destruction, they have now been left with an extensive clean-up job, and are facing repairs that are expected to run into tens of thousands of pounds. They are not even sure who will have to pick up the bill.

“We are waiting to see,” said Olivia, who lives next door to the property where the explosive was discovered. “We don’t know who will pay.”

Martyn Hammond, who lives on the other side of the bomb site, said his garden had been destroyed and was covered in huge sandbags. He said: “I can’t afford to replace this, it would cost about £10,000. So who pays for it? How do I pay for it? I haven’t got that sort of money.

“It could be weeks to put this right. We’re trying to carry on with life, but I’m finding it difficult at the moment – but I can’t afford not to go to work.”

Last week, 3,250 people living in 1,219 properties in the Keyham area were moved from their homes after the discovery of the unexploded Nazi bomb. The bomb was successfully removed by Army experts last Friday and detonated at sea.

When homeowners in St Michael Avenue returned to their properties, they got a shock. Olivia, who lives with her husband and their dog, said she found her garden wall had been reduced to rubble, and her decking and a pergola were smashed up.