Bomb squad clears home of war weapons

The arsenal, which included hundreds of munitions, guns and grenades along with knuckledusters and unusual firearms, filled every room of the house on Sheffield Road in Penistone.

Police were called to the property on Wednesday after neighbours became concerned for the wellbeing of 51-year-old Martin Johnson, known to friends as “Seth”, who had not been seen for several days.

Officers found Mr Johnson dead in bed, but then immediately evacuated around 100 homes and businesses after discovering hundreds of weapons – many of which were assumed to be extremely dangerous.

Devices were hung on walls, displayed in cabinets and piled onto shelves and in corners.

Chief Inspector Andy Hodgkinson said: “Following the discovery of the gentleman inside the house, we found a number of what appeared to be Second World War and First World War munitions and weapons.

“There was a whole house full of stuff – munitions, firearms, shells and grenades.

“The occupant of the house had clearly been collecting these things for an entire lifetime. This was definitely a lifetime collection.”

The Ministry of Defence arrived at the scene on Wednesday evening and assessed the collection.

Sheffield Road was closed and a 100m cordon was put in place for more than eight hours as a precaution while investigations were carried out before residents were allowed to return to their homes shortly after 10.30pm.

The bomb squad cleared dangerous items yesterday and were due to carry out a controlled explosion.

Discussing the legality of owning such items, Mr Hodgkinson said: “It is legal to keep such items but they have to be certified as safe. Unless the weapons are certified then they are classed as prohibited weapons.

“It will be sometime before we can confirm whether the collection is mainly safe.

“There are some very valuable items in the house. We are now working with the family because they are keen to get some of the items back to them. But we can obviously only do that when we know they are safe for definite.

“One of our first main concerns was that some of the mortar shells indicated that they might contain chemicals like mustard gas. Luckily, though, scans of the weapons indicated that wasn’t the case.”

Neighbours described single Mr Johnson as something of a loner, but a friendly man who with a “big heart and a larger than life character”.

Mr Johnson’s death is not being treated as suspicious.

Pub Landlord Ian Haddington, who has owned The Britannia in Penistone for six years and knew regular drinker Mr Johnson well, said: “He will definitely be missed by the locals.

“He loved collecting his war memorabilia – he was fascinated by it.

“That’s all he used to do, that’s all he was bothered about. He wouldn’t harm anybody, he just loved collecting.”

Neighbour Colin Storey, who had sold Mr Johnson some Second World War medals and postcards, said: “Seth was so passionate about his collection. It was his thing.”

Mr Johnson was not the only one of Penistone’s residents to count himself as an enthusiastic collector of munitions and war memorabilia.

John Ownsworth owns hundreds of bombs, medals, artillery equipment and even a cockpit from the two world wars.

Many of the munitions were found in the Peak District not far from his cottage.

The hobby is not without its dangers, however.

In 1992, a German cannon shell blew up as he was polishing it, injuring his left hand and forearm so badly he had to have them amputated.