A VENGEFUL son sent a parcel bomb to his estranged step-mother which exploded when she opened it, a court heard.

Wayne Jeffries is alleged to have taken the improvised explosive device to the home of his step-mother Sandra Jeffries and his father Victor in Othello Close, Colchester, who he had not seen for between 20 and 30 years.

When Sandra opened the package in her living room – which was loaded with metal tacks and cannisters – exploded shattering a glass table and candelabras.

Jeffries, 55, made complaints that his father and stepmother abused him when he was a child in 2008 shortly after the couple had won £40,000 on the lottery.

Gazette: Explosion in Othello Close, Greenstead, Colchester..Defendant Wayne Jeffries

Police investigated the claims but the Crown Prosecution Service took no further action. Jeffries later appealed and the decision which was upheld.

After the explosion, fire crews and Ministry of Defence explosive experts were called to the scene.

Opening the case this morning, Christopher Paxton, prosecuting said the device delivered on December 21, 2016 was something more likely to be found in the war torn Middle East.

He said: “As she opened the package it exploded singeing her hair and clothing.

“Such was the force of the blast it caused damage to the loft hatch several metres away.

Gazette: Explosion in Othello Close, Greenstead, Colchester..Defendant Wayne Jeffries

“Perhaps it was only good fortune she escaped serious injury.

“It was a device later examined and described as an IED – the sort of reference that you might associate with incidents in the Middle East as opposed to a housing estate in Colchester where this explosion took place.

“So who would want to harm Mrs Jeffries - a then 69-year-old grandmother or those close to her?

“We say the evidence points to her stepson.

“A few years before he made allegation that she and her husband had abused him when he was a child.”

Sandra said she thought the device had been fishing equipment ordered by her husband but began to worry when it started hissing and smoking when she cut through thick parcel tape.

After a short period in care Jeffries began living with Sandra and Victor in his childhood after his father had split with his biological mother.

They had a strained relationship but he remained living at the family home until he was an adult.

Gazette: Explosion in Othello Close, Greenstead, Colchester..

After police arrested Jeffries they searched his home and found a cardboard roll with metal attached to it which experts said could have been the start of another IED.

They also discovered he had searched the internet for firework igniters – similar to the one used in the device delivered to the house and had been reading a Gazette report of the incident.

Jeffries, of Glisson Square, Colchester, denies causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious damage.

The trial – which is expected to last three weeks – continues.