Police spoke to bomb suspect ‘two weeks ago’
A TEENAGER suspected of being the Parsons Green bomber had been spoken to by police a number of times, neighbours of his foster family claimed yesterday, amid questions over what authorities knew.
The 18-year-old refugee, believed to be Iraqi, was a “problem” to foster parents Penny and Ron Jones and they had been contacting officials saying that they were unable to cope, it was said.
Neighbours in Sunbury on Thames, south-west London, said that the teenager had been brought home by officers just two weeks before the attack and they regularly saw plain-clothes officers at the property.
The suspect was arrested at the Port of Dover on Saturday morning on suspicion of planting the home-made bomb which partially detonated on a District Line train on Friday morning injuring 29 people.
Last night CCTV footage emerged which showed a person carrying a large Lidl bag. The footage, which was obtained by ITV News, was understood to have been recorded around 90 minutes before the attack and shows a man leaving a property at the centre of the investigation.
All but one of the victims caught up in the attack, which saw commuters getting crushed as they ran for their lives from the fireball which ripped through the carriage, have now been released from hospital. Police arrested a second man in connection with the attack on Saturday night. The 21-year-old was held in Hounslow before officers searched a home in Stanwell, Surrey, connected to one of the Jones’s former foster children.
The terror threat level was yesterday reduced from critical to severe as officers continued to search the home belonging to Mr and Mrs Jones, aged 88 and 71 respectively, who previously received MBES for services to children and families.
Forensic tents were erected in the gardens of the terrace house as residents evacuated over the weekend were gradually allowed to return.
It is understood that the teenager was born in Baghdad but came to Britain as a refugee a couple of years ago. He had been staying with Mr and Mrs Jones for several months after going
through an immigration centre in Dover, it is said.
Stephen Griffiths, 28, who lives across the road, said: “Police have been at this address a few times in the last couple of weeks. At the time we just put it down to it being foster kids that needed to be spoken to. But it clicked in my head earlier – what if one of the children was under investigation or surveillance?”
He said that on several occasions police had turned up in marked cars but plain clothes. “It was nothing like just a normal officer doing a duty call, it seemed like something a bit higher in the chain,” he said.
Aaron Nye, a former foster child of the couple, said that they had told him that they had had some “difficult teenagers” recently. “I really feel for Penny and Ron. They have been so good to so
‘It clicked in my head earlier – what if one of the children was under investigation or surveillance?’
many kids,” he said.
Jim Adaway, 37, a family friend, said the Joneses had recently returned to foster caring to resettle youngsters from overseas. “I think Penny was getting in touch with (the authorities) saying ‘I cannot handle this one’,” he said.
Dave Solway, 44, who lives opposite Penny and Ron Jones, said that he had seen Mr Jones having an argument with the teenager and had gone out to try and calm the situation down. “I said to the lad, I told him they are nice people and you need to calm down,” Mr Solway recalled.
Serena Barber, 47, who has known the couple all her life and lives in a property backing on to theirs, added: “He kept getting in trouble ... and they didn’t know what to do with him.”
She said that about two weeks ago he was spoken to by police who brought him home, adding: “After that Penny said she was going to have to stop caring for him, she couldn’t handle him.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that they had “no knowledge of a previous arrest” but would not comment on whether the teenager was known to them.
The Joneses are understood to be staying with friends. Yvonne Jones, 41, their daughter-in-law, said: “They are safe and well, I can’t say anymore than that. We have been told not to talk.