Updated 7 pm - Luton Airport has re-opened after the police carried out a controlled explosion of a suspicious item which forced the airport to be evacuated in the afternoon.

All flights to the airport 35 miles north of London, the country's sixth biggest, were suspended and roads leading to the airport were closed, after concerns were raised about the item when it went through the a security search.

Bomb disposal experts were called in and a controlled explosion was carried out.

"It was confirmed that the item destroyed, although deemed suspicious, did not present a wider danger," Bedfordshire Police said on its website. Police said no one had been arrested.

Britain recently raised its international terrorism alert to its second-highest level, saying Islamic State in Syria and Iraq posed the country's greatest-ever security risk. 

The airport closure caused a substantial delay for a Ryanair flight from Malta which had to land in Stanstead and wait there until Luton was reopened and it could go there to pick up passengers for a flight back to Malta.