Grenade Trial: Witness tells of fear for 'survival'

A former Irish Guard feared for his and others' survival after another ex-soldier threatened to 'end it' with a grenade, a court heard.

Witness Fabiam Ward told of the 'extreme danger' when former Coldstream Guard Sean Hemans allegedly pulled the pin on a grenade at his flat in Sawyers Close, Dedworth.

Hemans, who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, is on trial at Reading Crown Court charged with inducing someone to believe there is going be an explosion, making threats to kill and possession of a hand grenade.

A jury heard on Wednesday that on March 4, Mr Ward, his partner Tashika Fenton, and their friend Claudette Chambers, went to the flat in Dedworth after becoming concerned about the defendant.

Mr Ward told the court Ms Chambers told him Hemans, who he said had drunk two or three bottles of wine, was holding a grenade and that the 35-year-old defendant then said 'yes and the pin's been pulled'.

The witness, who said he saw the top of the grenade, added: "Considering where I was stood and there was nowhere for me to hide or no kind of cover, I was not happy."

Mr Ward told the jury: "I said 'this is getting out of hand now'.

"My concern was as he had been drinking he could have tripped, stumbled, fell, whatever, that would have been it, and in the confine of the communal area there wouldn't have been a great chance of survival."

An urgent manhunt was sparked after Hemans left the flat and armed police and the force helicopter eventually tracked him down in Britwell.

Hemans also faces two charges of rape, alleged to have taken place in September 2012.

He denies all five charges.

The trial continues.