A SHELL-SHOCKED receptionist has described the moment he opened an old storage box and found a bomb which had nearly killed his father.

The discovery led to 20 residents being evacuated and the bomb squad, fire brigade, ambulance and police being called in.

Nick Wythe found the Japanese mortar bomb in a wooden chest which had once belonged to his father Eddie, who served in the Royal Engineers during the Second World War.

Eddie, who died of a heart attack two years ago, had kept the 14in long bomb as a keepsake after it landed undetonated just feet away from him when he was serving in Burma.

Mr Wythe, 48, only found the bomb as he was packing possessions at his home in Brentwood Close, New Eltham, in preparation for his emigration to Italy today.

He said: "When my father died I inherited lots of old boxes, which I just stashed in the cupboards in my house.

"But now my fiancee Nancy and I are emigrating to Italy I've started to sort through all the junk.

"I opened this old wooden chest and there it was, an undetonated mortar bomb staring back up at me. It was unbelievable.

"I remember my father showed it to me when I was about seven, just after he returned from war, but I didn't realise he had kept it this long.

"I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I laid it gently on the kitchen floor. I didn't want to drop it and set it off."

Mr Wythe, who has just left his reception job at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in central London, then alerted police which led to extraordinary scenes in the normally quiet close.

Two police vans and three squad cars arrived at the scene just after 5.30pm on July 8 and set about evacuating 20 residents from neighbouring houses.

The street was cordoned off with police tape and drinkers at the nearby Beehive Pub in Footscray Road, were ordered to stay indoors.

Fire crews from Eltham, Forest Hill and Lewisham were drafted in as back-up and London Ambulance Service also attended the scene as a precautionary measure.

Greenwich police alerted the bomb squad who declared the bomb "safe" at around 6.20pm before taking it away.

Mr Wythe's 37-year-old fiancee Nancy Barone recalls returning home just as the drama was unfolding.

She said: "I was petrified. For all I knew this bomb could have exploded right in my face. I'd been sleeping in that house for over a year and it was there all along."

Canadian Ms Barone, who used to teach at St Thomas More Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Footscray Road, added: "All the neighbours have since joked we have left the street with a bang. You can't argue with that."

Mr Wythe, who will wed Ms Barone in Sicily on August 5, said: "I'm glad I found the bomb.

"With the current climate, it does not bear thinking about what could have happened if I had packed that box unchecked and then sent it abroad."