Mortar Bomb Chaos

The man's actions astonished police, traders and an Army bomb disposal unit, which was called out to destroy the Second World War device, with a controlled explosion in the theatre car park.

Rustington Scout leaders, preparing to rehearse their Gang Show in the theatre, raised the alarm when the man appeared, holding the mortar.

Gang Show producer Anne Lecuyer told the Gazette: "He just wandered in and said: 'The Coastguard is closed. I don't know what to do with this.'

"It was ludicrous. It makes you wonder what possessed him to pick up an unexploded mortar in the first place, walk around with it and take it into a theatre? What did he think we were going to do with it? We were just gobsmacked.

"Someone told him to take it outside, put it down and call the police."

Sunday morning's drama began at about 9.30am as the Gang Show's backstage team was putting together the scenery for a full technical rehearsal. Police inspected the mortar, which had been left in the car park, and within minutes a large area around the Windmill, including Harbour Park, the car park, seafront and the Windmill pub/restaurant was cordoned off by police.

The buildings were not completely evacuated until later, after Army explosives experts decided to carry out a controlled explosion, blanketing the bomb in dozens of sandbags brought in by Arun Works Services. There were two explosions, a few minutes apart, before the all-clear was given at 2.15pm.

The 70-strong Gang Show cast, turning up for the rehearsal, gave the large crowd watching the incident an impromptu, open air performance of several numbers from the show, before being allowed into the theatre.

But while the Scout group lost precious rehearsal time, seafront businesses lost thousands of pounds, too.

Darren Gilmore, general manger of the Windmill pub/restaurant, said staff had continued working towards opening at noon, even though they were aware the theatre and Harbour Park amusement complex had been evacuated, and customers could not go past the police cordon.

But at 12.45pm, police said the pub/restaurant also had to be cleared, and staff had to leave, switching off gas in the kitchen in case of an explosion, and leaving all the food prepared for what had been expected to be a very busy half-term holiday Sunday lunchtime.

Although staff were allowed back into the premises at 2.30pm, it took another hour to prepare for opening, and by then the busy lunch trade had gone.

"It was extremely costly for us," said Mr Gilmore. "In the winter, we rely so much on what we do on a Sunday, and especially at half-term, when business is usually up by 30-50 per cent."

Harbour Park managing director Gary Smart said being closed for more than three hours also cost his business money on what would have been a good Sunday, but preferred to stress the positive outcome.

"Luckily, the man who picked up the mortar and his family didn't get hurt. These things happen, but it was a happy ending."

A police spokesman said the public should take great care if such a device was found. "They should be left alone and marked where they were found. The police should be contacted immediately by dialling 999. Especially in an area like the seaside, life is potentially at risk. Under no circumstances should people touch or pick up such a device, and certainly not carry it into a building with people inside.

"Certainly, we would advise strongly against what this man did."

A spokesman for the Royal Logistics Corps, which carried out the controlled explosion, said the high explosive mortar had probably ended up on the beach during preparations for D-Day landing craft setting out from Littlehampton.