Parsons Green terror attack – Cops raid home just YARDS from Heathrow after second man, 21, is arrested over Tube bomb – but terror threat is reduced to ‘severe’
ANTI-terror cops have swooped on a home directly opposite Heathrow Airport after a second man was arrested in the hunt for the Parsons Green bomber.
He was arrested by detectives investigating the bucket bomb that partially detonated at the underground station, police have confirmed.
The raid on a house so close to Heathrow will raise concerns that Britain's busiest airport may have been on the radar of the two suspects, although the police have not commented on this.
Home secretary Amber Rudd announced that the terror threat level had been reduced to 'severe' from 'critical' meaning security experts no longer believe an attack to be imminent.
But the classification means they think an attack is still highly likely.
Ms Rudd today said that it seemed the Parsons Green bomber was not a lone wolf, but added: “It’s too early to reach any final conclusions on that.”
She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “This has been a year like no other - we’ve seen five serious attacks and six that were foiled by the police.”
Asked about Donald Trump’s tweets on the attack, Ms Rudd joined the chorus of criticism, saying: “It’s never helpful to have speculation about an ongoing investigation and I would include the President of the United States in that.”
She said his claim that Scotland Yard had the bomber “in their sights” was not based on an intelligence leak and was “pure speculation”.
The 21-year-old man was arrested in Hounslow shortly before midnight last night.
He was arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody.
Following the arrest police searched an address in Stanwell, Surrey, where a forensics team and several police vehicles were seen in attendance.
It is understood that the person registered to the address has links to foster carers Ron and Penny Jones whose house in Sunbury was searched yesterday.
The second arrest comes after an 18-year-old - the youngest to be arrested over a terror attack in the UK - was quizzed by cops after he was seized in Dover.
The teen is thought to be a refugee fostered by the elderly couple who were honoured by the Queen.
He reportedly "froze" as he was surrounded by cops at 7.50am yesterday after being tracked by facial recognition technology following the London Tube attack that injured 30.
Five hours later, armed police raided a home in posh Sunbury-on-Thames that belongs to the Jones couple, who received an MBE in 2009 for fostering hundreds of kids.
Neighbours told how armed cops descended on the quiet residential street.
Steven Griffiths, 28, who lives opposite elderly foster couple, said: "When I saw the blacked out van and the guns, I thought that this wasn't a little thing.
“Penny was telling the police with guns where stuff would be placed in her house.
"I said to my mum: 'They are going in to kill. This is something crazy.'
“We were at the windows and the police shouted up to us and said to please get away from the windows and I told her: 'It's a terror investigation.'
"Police with balaclavas were at our door telling us we had five minutes to pack up and leave.”
Dave Solway, 44, who also lives opposite Mr and Mrs Jones, said: "Counter-terror police began banging on their front door with shields, bomb-proof shields.
"I saw Penny being pulled out basically, I didn't see Ron, don't know if he was there.
"There was loads of them, it was swarmed, there must have been a good 15-20 easily round the back, front, side of the house.
"It was quite scary, they told us to get away from our windows and go to the back of the house.
"They then said that we had 10 minutes, then they went two minutes, then 'get out now'."
Police remain on the scene, where neighbours claimed they were told a bomb was found in the back garden.
A forensic tent is currently in place as investigators examine the property.
Police have not confirmed or denied the claims another device was found.
Local politician Ian Harvey said: "One thing I understand is that he was an Iraqi refugee who came here aged 15 - his parents died in Iraq."
The whole road remains cordoned off and police have erected a large grey fence around the front of the Jones's home.
One or two residents who spent the night elsewhere have been returning to the road to collect belongings - they are being allowed to do so only with a police escort to and from their home.
What we know so far:
- A homemade bucket bomb connected to a timer sent a "fireball" hurtling through an eastbound District Line Tube at Parsons Green at around 8.20am on Friday
- The Metropolitan Police confirmed they are treating the horror as a terror attack
- 30 people were injured including a young boy believed to have suffered serious burns to his legs
- British police arrested an 18-year-old man in the ferry departure area of the port of Dover on Saturday
- Hours later, police raided a house in a commuter town southwest of London, and evacuated nearby premises as a precaution
- A second man, 21, was arrested late last night in in Hounslow and a second home in Stanwell was raided by cops
- Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said the UK's threat level has been lowered from critical to severe
Close friends say the couple had a problematic foster child who they claim was arrested two weeks ago over an unrelated incident.
It is thought he may be the suspect.
Detectives are continuing to probe whether more plotters were involved in the DIY bomb attack that sent a "fireball" through a packed Tube carriage on Friday morning.
Bomb-making materials are understood to have been hidden in the £350,000 terraced home behind the foster parents’ back.
