Police raid the home of a Syrian refugee, 21

BRITISH police hunting the Parsons Green bombers yesterday swooped on the home of a foster couple who sheltered a Syrian refugee.

Yahya Faroukh, 21, was showered with love by Penelope and Ronald Jones at their property in Surrey, south-east England.

Yesterday police searched the building along with an address at Heathrow, west London, that Faroukh moved to a few months ago.

He had been placed with the Joneses, who looked after children from war zones, after reaching Britain in 2013.

Faroukh is believed to come from Al Harah near Damascus – an area that has escaped much of the devastation caused by Syria’s civil war.

He appears to have fled his homeland for Egypt, possibly by flying to Cairo. On November 23, 2013, he posted a picture on his Facebook page showing a dilapidated fishing boat with the caption: ‘The boat we took from Egypt to Italy.’

Within a few days he was in Croydon, London, where Britain’s immigration authorities are based. He was placed with the Joneses at their home in Sunbury-on-Thames and began studying at West Thames College.

On his Instagram he wrote about ‘smoking weed every day’ and posted an image

‘I’m surprised he has been linked to this’

saying: ‘For better life you need to have weed, vodka and drugs.’ He also posted anti-Israel images proclaiming: ‘Stop Israeli terror in Palestine.’

Mohammed Konbus, who met Faroukh during the journey through Egypt, said: ‘He wasn’t into all that religious stuff. He was a very sensible person and very mature. I am so surprised that he has been linked to this.’

At Christmas 2015, Faroukh appears to have travelled to Scotland to see a cousin, also a refugee, and some children. But 11 weeks ago, on June 29 – a few days after the London Bridge terror attack – his father died back in Syria. It set off a period of intense mourning for Faroukh.

By now he was living in a house in Staines, next to Heathrow Airport. Antiterror police swooped there yesterday.

Neighbour Pat Hodge, 59, said: ‘Sometimes he and his friends go out in the garden with their prayer mats and shisha pipes. I did think it was a bit strange that whenever I leave the house in the early hours of the morning, he’s always up with his friends.

‘His lights are on all night, every night, and often there are three or four of them in there together.

‘It’s frightening to think we’ve welcomed him to the neighbourhood.’