A COUNCIL has threatened to take ‘direct action’ to clear up a rat-infested front garden piled high with junk.

Sharon Cochrane’s property in Hunstanton, Norfolk, is nearly buried with broken furniture, bags of rubbish, and household appliances.

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West Norfolk council have agreed to take ‘direct action’ after neighbours reached their wits’ end[/caption]

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Rats are said to have spread from the chaotic front garden[/caption]

Now, West Norfolk councillors have agreed “direct action” can be taken if necessary over Ms Cochrane’s untidy plot at her £250,000 property.

However, the authority has said no deadline has been set and it is trying instead to work with her because she has begun to clear the rubbish.

A spokesman for the council said: “The council is working with the owner to manage her property.

“Officers recognise that she has made an effort to clear the exterior and they will continue to support her to do this.

“However, they also have the council’s authority to take direct action, which means that if it becomes necessary a clear-up can be undertaken, for which she will be liable.”

Ms Cochrane, 66, enraged neighbours on the resort’s Chatsworth Road after junk piled high in her front garden.

A supermarket trolley full of groceries had also been left, while a car with a damaged wing and flat front tyre is parked on the street outside with a sideboard next to it.

But Ms Cochrane previously insisted it was no-one else’s business.

She said: “The world is going to hell in a handbasket and people care so much about my furniture on my own drive.

“I don’t understand why people are so concerned.”

Locals said the pile was attracting vermin and was lowering the tone of the whole street.

One neighbour said: “I’d like to throw a molotov cocktail on it.

“People have tried to get lots of different agencies involved but nothing seems to happen.

“We only occasionally see her walk past to Tesco with a shopping trolley.

“This is a quiet, peaceful road and it’s a shame.”

Tammy Edmunds, spokesperson of Chatsworth Road, said: “How can the law of the land let someone live in such squalor and filth?

“I appreciate there are laws and regulations but some people seem to live above them.

“The street has been suffering with this on and off for ten years and in the last five weeks its gotten worse.

“It’s a fire hazard and risk of health and safety.

“We’ve heard of rats from there spreading across to other properties which has meant pest control have had to come out.”

West Norfolk Council served an enforcement notice under the Town and Country Planning Act ordering Ms Cochrane to clear up the mess.

If it takes “direct action”, she would be liable for the cost of removing it and could have a charge put on her property to recover the money if she is unable to pay.

The Sun has contacted West Norfolk council for additional comment and updates.

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Sharon has argued that her garden is ‘no-one else’s business’[/caption]

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The property has been labelled a fire hazard[/caption]

CHINA has given rare insight into its souped-up DF-5B nuclear missile – a 7,500-mile-range weapon with staggering explosive power.

The missile is said to pack hundreds of times the destructive force of the bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands in World War II.

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China’s DF-5B nuclear weapons are said to have a 7,500-mile range and an explosive yield of four megatonnes of TNT[/caption]

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has claimed in the past that China’s arsenal is for self-defence[/caption]

Although China has long kept its nuke programme secret, state broadcaster CCTV revealed details about the upgraded DF-5B intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Monday.

This missile boasts a maximum range of 7,500 miles and an accuracy of 0.3 miles, as per reports by journalist Li Zexin on X.

This range is enough to reach most of Europe and nearly all of the US from launch sites inside China.

For example, the distance from Beijing to London is around 5,000 miles and from China to New York is roughly 7,000 miles.

The DF-5B is said to deliver a yield of three to four megatonnes.

This is about 200 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, which had an estimated explosive yield of about 15 kilotonnes of TNT.

It also far surpasses the destructive power of the bomb unleashed on Nagasaki, which had a yield of around 21 kilotonnes of TNT.

The hi-tech missile has integrated Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle technology – allowing it to carry and release multiple nuclear warheads at once.

A single DF-5B missile can release up to 10 warheads, striking different targets across wide areas.

Since each warhead is independent, missile defence systems find it much harder to intercept, making this weapon far more lethal than other known weapons.

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Military vehicles carrying DF-5B missiles participate in a military parade in Beijing in 2019[/caption]

CCTV described the missile as China’s “first-generation strategic ICBM”.

The DF-5B, first created in 2015, is an upgraded variant of China’s original DF-5 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which entered service in 1981.

It’s unclear why this information was released, but it is believed that Beijing wants to showcase its military modernisation and deter potential threats.

It comes just days after China deployed its most dangerous nuclear bombers to a tiny island, as revealed by satellite pictures.

Aerial photos show two hulking H-6 bombers on an airfield on Woody Island in the South China Sea, taken on May 19.

The long-range aircraft date back to the 1950s, and were modelled on Soviet-era warplanes.

But they have been upgraded to carry modern weapons, including hypersonic and nuclear missiles.

They are considered China’s most advanced bombers, and this is the first time they have been spotted on the outpost in five years.

US intelligence previously warned that China could seize Taiwan’s smaller islands as the first step of a full-scale invasion.

In September 2024, China launched a nuclear-capable missile into the Pacific Ocean, marking the first test in 40 years.

The ICBM, launched by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, carried a dummy warhead.

The Chinese defence ministry said in a statement the rocket “fell into expected sea areas”, and that it was a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan”.

China said the test was not directed at any country or target, and that it “informed the countries concerned in advance”, reports claimed.

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A KJ-500 early warning plane and Y-20 transport aircraft parked on the tarmac on Woody Island[/caption]

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