Break-out fears as storm sets off Broadmoor siren
Alarm triggered by lightning is among seven due to be decommissioned
RESIDENTS in Crowthorne and the surrounding area received an early wake-up call last week after a vicious lightning storm set off the sirens at Broadmoor Hospital, sparking fears of an escape.
However, bosses at West London NHS Mental Health Trust – which runs the highsecurity psychiatric hospital – were quick to allay fears of a break out, attributing the blaring racket to a siren in Bracknell.
Dozens of people in the village, as well as neighbours in Sandhurst and Surrey Heath borough, quickly took to social media to try and find out just what was going on in the early hours of Friday morning.
Daisy Peters wrote on Twitter: “I seriously hope that the Broadmoor sirens are as a result of it being struck by lightning and not because someone has escaped.”
Some were more concerned about facing work bleary-eyed after just a few hours sleep. Elliot Nye wrote: “Absolutely tired from the lack of sleep I had last night. Cheers Broadmoor alarm.”
The siren emits a traditional Second World War air raid tone, which has become a feature of life for residents in Bracknell Forest and Surrey Heath where it sounds every Monday at around 10am.
Thames Valley Police and Bracknell Forest Council were both quick to confirm via Twitter that the sirens had actually been set off by the weather, after a fierce storm swept across the south east. A spokesman for the health trust said: “At approximately 4.30am, the Broadmoor Hospital siren in Bracknell was activated by the electrical storm experienced in the south east.
“West London NHS Mental Health Trust, who are responsible for the management of the hospital, have contacted BT to solve this as soon as possible.”
The spokesman added that the trust was forging ahead with plans to decommission seven of the 13 communitybased sirens in the immediate area around the hospital, on account of their ‘age and unreliability’.
It is thought refurbishment would cost around £250,000.
This would include the offending siren in Bracknell, which is among the network’s most northerly outposts, along with others in Wokingham and another towards North Ascot.
Further south, however, beyond the six sirens in the Sandhurst and Crowthorne area that WLMHT propose to keep, there are others in Camberley, near the railway station, along the A30 in Bagshot and at Finchampstead.
The siren network was installed in 1952 following the escape of child serial killer John Straffen, who within 24 hours went on to kill fiveyear-old Linda Bowyer.
The siren was last sounded for a genuine escape in 1993.