Liverpool thugs with ‘casual attitude to weapons’ left unexploded hand grenade on Bury Street

Two Liverpool thugs with a ‘causal attitude to weapons’ have been jailed after leaving an unexploded hand grenade on a doorstep in Bury.

Shaun Offlands and Lee O’Shea rode over on a motorbike from Merseyside to Whitefield in September last year. Offlands, 29, then placed the device, a ‘Warrington Grenade’ on the doorstep of a home on Randale Drive.

Witnesses saw the pair acting suspiciously before they quickly left, with O’Shea acting as the driver. They then went to investigate and found the device, describing it as a ‘rusty brown ball’, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

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On closer examination they realised it was a hand grenade and called the police.

Randale Drive was evacuated following the discovery of the device and members of the public were advised to stay away from the area as the Army's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit safely removed it and later conducted a controlled detonation.

Offlands and O’Shea, both from Liverpool, were arrested and have since pleaded guilty to possessing an explosive device. Today (September 1) they were both jailed.

Virginia Hayton, prosecuting, said that following an examination of the device, it was confirmed to be an improvised grenade, known as a 'Warrington Grenade' made up of a black metal body, and plastic fly-up lever and was filled with approximately 100 grams of firework composition.

It was also found to contain Offlands’ DNA on the lever, she said.

CCTV footage was analysed and showed the men arriving on a motorbike at around 9pm wearing helmets, before one got off the bike and appeared to be looking around ‘a bit confused’ and hiding something in his jacket.

The man, later confirmed to be