Manchester United bomb scare: Jacqui Oatley on the 'catastrophic' mistake

It emerged this week that a dummy bomb which had been used in a security exercise and then left at the stadium was what caused Sunday's Premier League match to be postponed.

The fake bomb was found in a toilet before kick-off. The stadium was evacuated and a controlled explosion was carried out.

Fans of both Manchester United and Bournemouth had travelled long distances to attend the season finale but were sent home disappointed.

Speaking to the Express & Star, Ms Oatley, said: "It was a mistake, but it was a catastrophic mistake with serious consequences. We have all left things at work before but nothing with such repercussions.

"If you are going to have an exercise as lifelike as that you would think there would be strict procedures in place to check nothing was left behind.

"Of course we should reserve a full judgement until all the details have come out about what happened."

Ms Oatley, who has worked for the BBC and ITV, was at Molineux in 1996 when a suspect package resulted in an England's Under-21 European Championship qualifier being delayed by several hours. On that occasion a controlled explosion was also carried out – but the package turned out to be cheese sandwich.

Ms Oatley, a student at the time, worked at Molineux selling lottery tickets in return for match tickets.

She said: "I was in the North Bank and I was told by someone that a steward in what was then the John Ireland stand had found a suspicious package so no fans were going to be allowed into the stadium.

"I went up to the press box to tell them up there because I don't think they had known. This was years before I even thought about journalism but I think even then I must have had an instinct. Kick-off was delayed for quite some time before they let the fans in.

"Of course, in the end they found it had been a simple cheese sandwich. The match finally did kick-off and it was the worst match I can remember, there were no goals."

Ms Oatley said despite the bomb scare she does not remember feeling overly concerned.

She added: "I just remember not really seeing anyone. I don't remember being particularly worried, otherwise I would have left

."

Manchester's police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd, said it was 'astonishing' the dummy bomb at Old Trafford, left by Security Search Management & Solutions Ltd, was not found earlier.