Bomb alert after thief torches house

Bomb squad officers from Liverpool were immediately called to defuse the unexploded German mortar .

Ambulances were put on stand-by and Lowton Road, the main road next to the house in Taylor Street, Golborne, was sealed off.

Residents were ordered to stay in houses and the landlady of The Horns Inn was told to prepare to take in residents if an evacuation order was given.

But bomb squad officer discovered the war souvenir had already been disarmed in the past and was not live.

Firemen had been called to the house on Taylor Street in Golborne at 8.30pm on Wednesday.

The blaze was raging in the kitchen of the house and had spread to the stairs, landing and loft.

But it was only while they were damping down and making a search of the house that they discovered the bomb tucked away in a chest in an upstairs bedroom.

Next door neighbour Mark Atherton, 33, had been in The Horns Inn and spotted flames coming from the back of Frank Hatfield's home.

They first thought the elderly man was trapped in the blaze and rushed around to make a rescue bid. It was only while they were yelling his name through the smoke-logged doorway that another neighbour told them Mr Hatfield was out.

Mr Atherton, a supermarket distribution worker, said: " Thank goodness he was not inside, I don't see how he could have survived otherwise."

A Leigh fire station spokesman said: "The officer who found the bomb was very shocked indeed. There was a police officer on the scene already and he immediately called in the bomb squad."

Landlady of The Horns Inn, Sue Farrimond, said: "The police came in and told all the customers not to go outside. It's the first time we've been forced to have a 'lock in' by the police. Nothing much exciting happens in Golborne but when it does it really goes off."

Police, who have now boarded up and secured the house, are investigating the cause of the fire which is believed to have been started by a burglar.