A SERIES of blasts destroyed postboxes in Whitehill, Liphook and Liss over the weekend. A wheelie bin at a home in Bramshott was also targeted, leaving a hole in the base, and in Frensham Road, Churt, the letterbox of a home was shattered when an explosive device was pushed into it. At 9-30 pm on Sunday an explosive device wiped out a postbox outside Whitehill Park, in Hollywater Road, near Whitehill between Passfield and Bordon. According to police, a firework was pushed into the postbox at the entrance to the mobile- home park for retired people. At around 8-15 pm on the same evening, two miles away in Liphook, an explosion had ripped apart a metal postbox. Sharp-edged pieces of steel were blown 15 yards across the Longmoor Road, at Griggs Green, while other chunks were scattered across the pavement and grass verge. Villagers who heard a massive bang said it was a miracle that no- one had been hurt in the explosion. "If anyone had been walking by, or even driving in a car, and been hit by the debris they could have been injured or even killed," said Lorraine Frain, landlady of the nearby Deers Hut pub. But despite customers dialing 999 three times in the aftermath of the blast, it was about an hour before a police patrol car arrived at the scene in Liphook. The full extent of the incident was not revealed until daylight when the potentially lethal pieces of metal could be seen embedded in the grass. The cast iron section containing the metal plate which gives postal collection times, had been blown across the road. A postman who arrived to examine the damage said: "Someone could have been killed or maimed if they had been caught in the middle of this lot. The postbox is made of metal and it must have been a very powerful explosion to tear it apart." As he sifted the debris, he picked up what appeared to be the device itself – a thin tube of strong plastic which had been torn apart in the middle by the explosive. Craig Morgan, assistant manager at Liphook Sorting Office told The Herald: "This was a home-made incendiary - it was definitely not a firework. One of our postmen picked up the device from the Longmoor Road post box. It was made of strong plastic tubing with a fuse in the end. A firework would have been made of cardboard and it would have to be a huge firework to do the kind of damage caused. It was lucky nobody was nearby at the time. It was a very, very dangerous prank by someone out there. The device could have just smouldered when it was thrown in the box and then gone off in the face of someone posting a letter or a postman emptying the box." A postbox was also blown up in Hawkley Road, Liss. Dc David Holden, who is carrying out the investigation into the explosions, told The Herald he believed similar devices had been used in all the incidents. "From what I have seen, my initial thoughts are that it is an incendiary device that can be purchased - it is something that is pre-made," he said. He added all the attacks on the postboxes had been at night in remote rural areas. "It's a dangerous prank," he said, but he did not believe there had been any intention to harm the public. Dc Holden said several people were helping police with their inquiries. Alan Bray, who rang 999 in Liphook, said: "It was about an hour and a half before the police turned up. They dismissed it as a firework, even when I pointed out that it would have been a hell of a firework to cause so much damage." Liphook parish councillor Nigel Newman said: "If anybody had been walking past or driving past they could have been seriously injured or possibly worse." Insp Laurie Rickwood, based at Whitehill Police Station, said: "I would like to reassure people in the local community that this matter is being taken seriously, is being investigated thoroughly and we will endeavour to bring the offenders to justice."
