A six-foot hole was torn in the roof of a New Malden family home after a giant block of ice, believed to have fallen from a passing aircraft, apparently smashed into the house on Monday morning.

Witnesses flooded from their homes to view the destruction, after feeling the vibrations from the frozen block hitting home in South Lane. One resident said the thud the object made was “like a field gun being fired”.

John Howard, who was visiting the house opposite at the time, said he initially thought the sound was a gas boiler exploding.

He said: “We looked out of the window and there was an immense hole - about six-foot square - in the house opposite.

“It looked from a distance as if chunks of insulation had been thrown out of the loft, but in fact it was lumps of ice the size of fists scattered all over the road.

“The occupiers had a bit of a turn when they came out - I should think it’s done several thousand pounds of damage to the roof.

“If it had been a little old lady with her shopping under it she just wouldn’t be there any more.”

Mr Howard said he told the occupiers of the house to grab a lump of the ice and put it in a plastic bag in their freezer, in case any tests needed to be run to prove its source.

He said: “You do hear about these things happening, with all the aircraft flying into Heathrow.”

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