Brondesbury Park WW2 bomb defused Published duration 3 March 2017

image copyright PA image caption Army bomb disposal experts have been working through the night to make the WW2 bomb safe

An unexploded World War Two bomb discovered on a building site in north-west London has been defused.

A 300m cordon was set up when the 500lb (227kg) device was found in The Avenue, Brondesbury Park on Thursday morning.

Police said bomb disposal experts had successfully defused the device and it had been moved away from the area.

Homes and schools had been evacuated and rail services were disrupted, but all roads in the area have now been reopened.

media caption Bomb disposal experts have been working through the night

Twenty-seven nearby schools, nurseries and parent and toddler groups were closed on Friday.

People living within the cordon were asked to leave their homes and a centre for people who were unable to return home was set up.

Nearly 80 people were moved to a hotel in Wembley on Thursday night.

London Overground was also closed for part of the morning between Willesden Junction and Camden Road.

image copyright PA image caption The 500lb (227kg) bomb was discovered on a building site in Brondesbury Park

After cordons were set up on Thursday one local resident told the BBC that "these things do happen" as London was bombed heavily in the war, but "it's just now inconveniencing me massively".

"I understand it's for security reason but it's just annoying", another resident said.

Supt Nigel Quantrell of the Metropolitan Police said specialist teams had been "working very hard to resolve the situation".

image copyright London Fire Brigade image caption The large bomb, pictured beside a shovel at the site, is understood to be a 500lb (227kg) device

image copyright PA image caption Large bags of sand have been placed around the bomb