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WW1 mustard gas discovered in home

A HAZARDOUS chemical which was first used by the German Army during World War One was discovered at a house in Woodford.

The police and the bomb disposal team were called to a house on Church Lane at around 2.20pm on Sunday, to remove four small chemical containers, believed to carry mustard gas.

The containers, some of which were empty, are thought to be decades old and stored in the house for some time.

Officers liaised with the army bomb disposal team and the containers, which were stored in a leather bound case, were removed and later collected by the army for safe disposal. There were no evacuations and no injuries.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence, Greg Stringer, confirmed the bomb disposal team attended the scene. He said: "The containers, which included a laboratory sampling kit, did not pose a threat to members of the public. They were taken away and will be disposed of in the next few days. It is not an everyday occurrence to find something like this. It probably dates back to World War One"

Mustard Gas or Yperite was first used by the German Army in September 1917. It was the most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war, it was almost odourless and took 12 hours to take effect.

The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. It caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes. It usually took a person four or five weeks to die of mustard gas poisoning.