Mum’s ‘final act’ saved child from grenade explosion that killed her
‘The partner’s [Kelly’s] gone there in a mental state. It wasn’t Jo’s house, it was her parent’s, she just lived there. She had split up with him and I think she moved there to escape from him.’
Avon and Somerset Police said: ‘Although the formal identification process has not yet been completed, we believe the woman to be 35-year-old Jo Shaw who lived at the address in Sterncourt Road, and the man to be her 41-year-old former partner, Ryan Kelly.’
Neighbours claimed that Joanne had just moved to a terraced home on the Bristol street to escape her ex-partner.
Mr Blanchard added: ‘She had been complaining to the police for some time before this incident, and he had been harassing her.
‘It’s a shock for everyone because they were a really nice family, I cannot believe it has happened. It wasn’t Jo’s house, it was her parents’, she just lived there. She had split up with him, and I think she moved there to escape from him.;
Local Wayne Smith, 58, told The Sun: ‘He’s turned up at her house with a grenade and detonated it on the doorstep and killed the pair of them.’
Friends and neighbours have begun to pay tribute to the victim, who is understood to have worked at a local tanning salon.
Superintendent Matt Ebbs said: ‘A woman and a man have died at the address and we’re treating the explosion as suspicious.
‘Their families have been updated and are being supported by specially trained officers. Our thoughts are very much with them.’
The neighbourhood has since been declared safe after bomb disposal units moved through and checked for any unexploded ordnance.
More than 70 people had to be evacuated to a nearby Harvesters pub before being moved on to a community centre.
A pub worker told Metro: ‘Obviously, they were very confused, very worried because there was a lot of speculation, but they seemed to be in good spirits.’
Several double-crewed units were dispatched to the address shortly after the initial call was made to police, with the caller remaining on the line.
At around 6.30am, the caller said the man was believed to have an explosive device. Two minutes later, the explosion took place and ambulances arrived on the scene at 6.34am.
Police are currently not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident, and they are not treating it as a suspected terrorist event.
One witness said a loud bang around 6.30am and went to investigate, until being told to ‘get inside’ by armed police forces.
A resident told the Mirror that he and his partner are helping elderly neighbours evacuate to a nearby pub.
He added: ‘We have been told to stay in the Harvester until further notice. We may not be able to go home tonight.’
Another resident claimed to see smoke from a house, telling BristolLive: ‘There were two or three unmarked police cars and a number of ambulances and police vehicles, and now the bomb squad is there.’
Kelly spent five years in prison after he admitted to conspiracy to supply cocaine in 2015, along with seven other men, in what has been branded a ‘Breaking Bad’ drug gang.
The operation was run by George Rogers, who was battling lung cancer, from prison.
He had planned to set up a lab where a self-taught chemist would produce crystal meth before police brought the gang to justice.
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