THE MAN who discovered the item which caused a four-hour lockdown of a road in Whitley has described what the object as “something suspicious.”

David Venning, who lives at one of the properties on Lulworth Road, was passing a nearby bin store at around 9.30am when he spotted the item.

He immediately called the police who told him to go indoors.

READ MORE: All the drama as it unfolded in Whitley yesterday

Within half an hour, police knocked on his door and asked him to evacuate his property as they were dealing with a “suspicious package.”

Around 100 people were forced to leave their homes as a cordon was put in place around Lulworth Road.

Describing what the item looked like, David told the Chronicle: “It was a brown box, about eight inches long and four inches wide and had black and red cables sticking out of the end of it, like wires sticking out the end of it.”

READ MORE: Police issue statement following controlled explosion of suspicious item

David described the item as the only package within the bin store.

Asked what he thought the object was, he responded: “I wouldn’t like to guess. It was obviously something suspicious because of the way it was by itself, the wires were left on the top and exposed.

“It was taped up with black masking tape around the box.

“It was left face down.

“Was it left to test it or as a dummy? You just don’t know.

“I came out this morning thinking the world’s lovely and this is what happens.”

A bomb disposal unit was called out to carry out a controlled detonation on the item.

The unit’s lorry was seen leaving the scene at around 2.30pm.

A statement from Thames Valley Police later confirmed the item was “not believed to have been a threat to the public.”

The cordon was lifted around 4.30pm.

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