Diplomat’s home ‘torn to pieces’ in police bungle
POLICE were accused of an appalling ‘mix-up’ last night after a British diplomat’s son suspected of terrorism was told he faces no further action.
James Sutcliffe, 19, was released from bail and informed he is no longer under investigation just days after a huge operation at his family home.
On Saturday morning a ‘ motorcade’ of police cards descended on the home he shares with his parents in Streatham Hill, South London
Officers from Scotland Yard sealed off the street and specialist officers were seen walking inside wearing protective clothing and breathing equipment.
Neighbours said the home was ‘torn to pieces’ as police undertook a fingertip search, which included digging up the garden. But it appears they found nothing.
Kuntal Patel, 36, who works for Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf, was also arrested under the same counter-terrorism legislation as Mr Sutcliffe on Sunday afternoon.
Her family has a series of online links with the neighbours of the Sutcliffe family and speculation was rife that police had made a mistake.
Miss Patel remains in custody at an East London Police Station last night after senior officers applied for a warrant of further detention.
But sources declined to explain the nature of the information or why such an intrusive and expensive operation was launched.
Specialist officers wearing protective clothing and breathing apparatus stormed the Sutcliffes’ £650,000 property.
They were acting on fears that dangerous chemical or toxic substances were concealed somewhere in the four-bedroom home.
It is an embarrassing turn of events for police who insisted officers were acting on ‘intelligence’ and were genuinely concerned for their safety.
The apparent blunder is compounded by the nature of the employment of Mr Sutcliffe’s father, 56-year-old Nicholas, who is a first secretary to the Foreign Office.
On Sunday afternoon, Kuntal
‘An unassuming young lad’
Patel was arrested at her home in Stratford, East London, and a similar search began there.
She shares the £450,000 property with her mother Meena Patel, 54, a magistrate, and younger sister, Poonam, a pharmacist.
It later emerged that Miss Patel is friends with three members of the Wong family, who live in the neighbouring property to the Sutcliffes. Their home and garden were also searched by counter- terrorism police but no one from the family was arrested.
Both Mr Sutcliffe and Miss Patel were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act, a rarely used piece of legislation.
Local councillor Ron Manley, who has known the Patels for more than 20 years, said: ‘They are a very upstanding family.
‘They are a Hindu family and I’ve known the two girls since they were at primary school. They have always been very polite, very nice girls.’
Mr Sutcliffe lives with his father and mother Carole, 54.
Last night, his grandfather Donald Hunter, 79, said: ‘He’s a very quiet unassuming young lad and it was difficult to believe he had done something untoward, certainly not anything on the scale of this investigation.
‘He was never the type of lad to get involved in any kind of trouble.’