The BBC's Dan Damon on the mysterious Bawtry bombings

The first went off on Monday, 9 November, the second a week later.

One ripped apart a phone box. A van was destroyed when the other bomb blew up. No-one was injured.

The van bomb went off outside the White Hart pub. An eye-witness said the flames were about 20 feet high.

"If the van had windows in it, it would have taken half the pub out and there could have been some fatalities", he said.

Exactly a week earlier, almost to the minute, a bomb went off outside elderly people's bungalows.

Detective Sergeant Dave Pickett said: "On two previous Mondays, we've had two explosions. If people had been nearby, they would have been seriously injured or even killed.

"And with that in mind, with the resources we have available, we do hope to have increased presence in Bawtry this Monday."

Usual suspects

However, police and residents are at a loss as to the motives for the bombings.

Detective Sergeant Pickett said: "We do have a description of two youths or young men, who were chased from the scene up the high street on to the main road in Bawtry.

"There have been gang fights if you like, on minimal occasions, but there have been that sort of thing in the area".

The Vicar of Bawtry, Jeremy Green, also thinks it is possible that it is young people causing problems in the town.

"I would have thought that Bawtry is a microcosm of society at large. We do have a drug problem around here but I don't think it's very different to many other communities," he said.