A PUPIL has been excluded from a Suffolk school after bringing in a home-made "explosive device" which led to bomb disposal experts being called in.The drama unfolded at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham yesterday afternoon , and headteacher David Floyd said the incident was being treated with the "utmost seriousness".

By Sarah Chambers

A PUPIL has been excluded from a Suffolk school after bringing in a home-made "explosive device" which led to bomb disposal experts being called in.

The drama unfolded at Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham yesterday afternoon , and headteacher David Floyd said the incident was being treated with the "utmost seriousness".

A spokeswoman for Suffolk police said last night the matter was being investigated.

The incident comes three years after a homemade petrol bomb was taped to the door of a new £260,000 English block at the school.

Police were called to yesterday's incident just before 1.15pm by concerned staff.

The Royal Logistics Corps Bomb Disposal were then called by police as a precaution, but the situation was not deemed serious enough for the school to be evacuated, and the team said there was "no threat" to anybody there.

The team examined the device and said it would be sent away for testing.

Headteacher David Floyd said: "A boy has brought into school a home-made explosive device which we looked at and it looked to be potentially very dangerous and so we informed the police.

"They have made the decision that although we don't need to evacuate the school, that it's sufficiently serious for the bomb disposal team to come in and make the thing safe."

He added: "The matter is being treated with the utmost seriousness. The student has been excluded and obviously I have reported the full detail of the case to the police.

"I did not evacuate because we felt the device had been rendered harmless, but it could have caused some serious damage.

"What we are concerned about is where the information came from to make such a device."

A member of the Army bomb disposal team said they had been called out from Colchester at about 2pm.

"We are just making sure it is all right now and we are going to get rid of it and send it away for testing.

"It had been taken away obviously by teachers and put in a safe area and they confirmed there was no method of initiation."

He added: "We have decided it is a home-made firework and it's going away for testing."

He said there was no threat to anybody in the school.

"The school did the right thing: they called the police – they called us," he said.

A police spokeswoman said they had attended the school after a report that a device had been constructed by a pupil.

"As a precaution the bomb disposal squad was called out. Inquiries will be made into the incident," she said.

In January 2000, a homemade petrol bomb was taped to the door of a new £260,000 English block at the school, and a rubber mat beneath set ablaze.

A school caretaker was hailed as a hero after he grabbed an extinguisher from the main building and put out the blaze before the tin package was ignited.

Bomb squad officers from the Royal Logistics Corps, in Colchester, fired a remote device at the suspicious package and it was found to contain a bottle of fuel.

Two teenage boys were given conditional discharges for 12 months, ordered to pay £25 compensation and £55 costs.