A COMMUNITY was in shock last night after the discovery of an arsenal of weapons and explosives on a North-East council estate.

A specialist police team will carry out a finger-tip search this morning of the semi-detached house in Kexwith Moor Close, Darlington, where bomb-making materials were discovered.

Pensioner Raymond Fothergill and 55-year-old John Lambert - thought to be his nephew - were arrested following a morning raid at their three-bedroomed home on the Firthmoor estate yesterday.

A team of eight officers acting on a tip-off swooped on the house at 7.30am and uncovered a dozen illegally-held guns, including Sten machine guns and handguns.

A large number of weapon parts were also found as well as ammunition, low-grade explosives, chemicals and other unidentified substances.

Neighbours were shocked that so many explosives could have been hoarded in the middle of a housing estate close to a school.

Police were quick to calm fears that anyone had been involved in terrorism or criminal activities.

But this morning, mystery still surrounds why the house had been turned into an arsenal with what appears to have been the capacity for bomb making.

Chief Inspector Barry Knevitt, of Darlington police, said: "At this stage of the inquiry there's absolutely nothing to suggest today's finds were linked with any terrorist organisations or dissident groups."

By mid-morning, with a police helicopter hovering overhead, residents were evacuated from their homes in the six streets around Kexwith Moor Close before Army bomb disposal experts moved in to carry out a controlled explosion on a home-made detonator.

The nearby Firthmoor Infant School and community centre were turned into emergency rest centres for anyone made temporarily homeless by the crisis.

Pupils from the area attending other schools in the town were kept there until they could be reunited with parents, who had gone to the homes of relatives or to the social services-run crisis centres.

Although everyone was given permission to return home later in the evening, Haughton Community School was designated as an overnight shelter to house anyone who could not get home.

Bill Cook, chairman of the Firthmoor Community Partnership board, was on duty at the community centre to dish out food to those evacuated from their homes.

He said: "Everyone has done extremely well to cope at such short notice.

"I am very impressed with the people of the estate. There has been a great wartime spirit among the people who were moved from their homes.

"It is terrifying when you think what could have happened on our estate. I did not know the men, and no one I have spoken to knew anything about them. They seem to have been strangers in the community."

Neighbours said the two men had kept themselves to themselves.

A team of experts from London last night examined chemicals taken from the house.

The chemicals, which were not thought to pose any immediate threat, were being kept in isolation and police refused to comment on what they could be.

More weapon components were recovered throughout the day, and a specialist search team will return to the house this morning to carry out a thorough search of the premises.

The search is expected to last all day, and possibly into tomorrow, as officers make sure there are no other weapons or explosions in the house.

Army bomb disposal experts, who left the house at 7pm yesterday, will return to the house to help with the search.