better known by his neighbours as Spike<\/a>, died in what police believe to be unsuspicious circumstances, but following a search of his house by police officers, suspected ordnance devices were found among his collection of wartime memorabilia. The army’s explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team was called in, with a cordon being erected along the street and surrounding area.<\/p>\nAs a result, dozens of homes were evacuated at around 2.30pm on Tuesday, June 24, leaving families homeless with no end in sight.<\/p>\n
In an update from Merseyside Police on Friday evening, a spokesperson said families were finally able to return to their homes following a “methodical and extensive search” of John’s home. During the search, a “significant number of items” were found, many of which were recovered in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n
The items included:<\/p>\n
\u2022More than 70 improvised explosive devices (IEDs)\u2022Four conventional munitions\u2022More than 300 conventional fireworks and pyrotechnics\u2022More than 35 firearms, including crossbows and small arms \u2022A number of booby traps<\/p>\n
A series of safe detonations of the IEDs were carried out at Eccleston Field over the past four days and the EOD have confirmed they have cleared the property and garden of anything of concern.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Matthew Moscrop said: \u201cThe list of items recovered by the EOD shows why they had to ensure that everything within the property was removed and will hopefully show residents why the cordon was put in place as public safety was paramount. The risk of the IEDs alone demonstrates the potential danger posed to the public.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1751051771_983_0_Police-incident-on-Chadwick-RoadSt-HelensPic-Andrew-Teebay.jpg\")
(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n
\u201cAdded to this, the house presented a challenging environment for our EOD colleagues as Mr Nelson had hoarded various items over the years which hampered them as they meticulously worked through these items to ensure any potential dangers were removed and made safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cA number of items were also found in the garden and as a result a thorough search of the garden and shed had to take place. The garden was unkept and overgrown and again presented further challenges for the search.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the items found, the search had to be carried out properly and safely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are under no illusion about the impact the last few days have had on all the residents who have been displaced. We know it will have impacted on their day-to-day lives and the simple things like taking their children to school, walking and feeding their pets and enjoying the comforts of home.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocal authority staff and PCSOs provided a vital service for those affected at Chain Lane Community Centre and provided people with urgent medical needs with immediate assistance. Support was also given to families with pets so they could retrieve pets that had been left behind. Due to the nature of what was in the house we were only able to facilitate those most urgent requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of residents have been able to stay with family and friends, and we thank them for their understanding and the support they have shown their loved ones. It has demonstrated very clearly the strength of community spirit in Haresfinch and beyond, and while this has been an incredibly tough week for everyone, I hope we will be able to reflect on the way so many people stepped up to the plate to support those in need when it mattered most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supt Moscrop added: \u201cHere at Merseyside Police, public safety is always our number one priority and we simply would not have allowed people to return to their homes when a threat to their safety, and indeed their lives, remained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the emergency services at the scene (Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue and North West Ambulance Service), the EOD and St Helens Council, have worked tirelessly this week and the motivation of all those agencies throughout has been to keep residents safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are extremely grateful to the EOD for their work this week, working as quickly as they could to make the property safe and return the surrounding streets to normality.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there will be lots of questions remaining in the community, and over the coming days and weeks we will look to get those answers as our police enquiries at the scene continue.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cordon has been lifted following an extensive four-day searchEmergency services on Chadwick Road(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[378,12,2645,16,15,30332],"class_list":{"0":"post-219365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-in-the-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-st-helens","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-world-war-i"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114756936339650200","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Emergency](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1751051770_702_0_Police-incident-on-Chadwick-RoadSt-HelensPic-Andrew-Teebay.jpg\")
Emergency services on Chadwick Road(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n