A bomb disposal team was called to Brentwood School early Monday morning to carry out the controlled explosions of sports bags left in the grounds.

The action came in the middle of a nationwide alert after a Tube worker was injured in a terrorist bomb attack on the BBC Television Centre at Shepherds Bush at the weekend.

The alarm was raised at 2am on Monday when three sports bags were discovered by a caretaker near the maths block at Brentwood School.

Police called to the scene alerted an army bomb disposal unit. Soldiers carried out controlled explosions on two of the bags.

The third bag was inspected manually, was found to contain just clothing, and was declared perfectly safe.

A police spokesman said: "It was decided to be safe rather than sorry, and so the experts were called in.

"Suspicion was caused because usually a porter would clear away any bags or rubbish left lying around, but these bags seemed to slip through."

Head teacher John Kelsall confirmed that there had been an incident but said it was being dealt with by the police.

The London bomb is believed to be the work of the splinter Irish terrorist group the Real IRA.

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