A GRANDMOTHER said she thought she had been the victim of a practical joke when she opened an explosive package which began to smoke.

Sandra Jeffries was alone at her home, in Othello Close, Colchester, when she was alerted to something being left at her door by her dogs barking.

She brought in the mystery package and opened it before it began to hiss and emit smoke. Seconds later it blew up and set fire to her home.

The jury at Ipswich Crown Court was shown a recording of her interview with detectives in the days after the explosion.

She said: “I went to the box to get my copy of The Gazette and the dogs started barking and going nuts.

“I looked and quietened them down because there was nobody there.

“I carried on but then I noticed something through my two glass panels - it was a parcel with a courier’s note on the top.

“I picked it up and put it on the glass cabinet.

“I thought it was fishing gear someone had ordered.

“I went and got a knife because it was covered in that brown tape and I started to cut it.

“When I managed to get that back there was brown paper and then a box - a bit bigger than a trainer box.

“It started hissing and smoke just started coming out of both ends.

“I thought it was a trick or something but then the whole thing exploded.

“It shattered the glass tabletop and all my candelabras.

“All missiles were flying about and they were banging, banging banging.”

Mrs Jeffries got out through the back door as the fire took hold and was helped by a neighbour who heard her screaming and called the fire service.

She told officers she was alerted by the fact the address on the parcel included a reference to Greenstead which is not usually included in deliveries.

The court heard her explain how she would often receive parcels for herself and other members of the family who would have them delivered to her home.

She also told detectives she felt “stupid” after realising a courier card would never usually be left along with a parcel.

Mrs Jeffries said she had received several silent phone calls in the weeks leading up to the delivery and the third or fourth one was somebody asking for a lady who had never lived at the address.

She was also called by somebody claiming to be from media company Virgin who asked for her postcode which she refused to give.

The trial continues.