The teenage Parsons Green ‘bucket bomb’ suspect was left alone at his foster parents’ house in the days before the attack.
The 18-year-old, who remains in police custody, was supposed to go with his foster parents Ron and Penelope Jones to visit their friends for a short vacation.
However he didn’t accompany the couple who are said to be so devastated by what has happened they have decided never to foster again.
A source told The Times: ‘The Jones’s friends had a dog and he said he had an allergy to dogs and could not stay with them. They went without him.’
The teenager and Yahya Faroukh, 21, who had also spent time in foster care with the Jones’, remain in custody as detectives were granted more time to question them over Friday morning’s bomb attack on a London Underground train.
The home of Penny and Ronald Jones in Sunbury was being searched for clues into the alleged bomb plot
Around 20 houses on the street were behind a cordon, which was patrolled by police, while forensics and anti-terror experts investigated
On Tuesday police lifted a cordon surrounding the Sunbury-on-Thames home of Ron, 88, and Penelope Jones, 71, but forensics officers could still be seen gathering evidence inside.
They are also said to have been gathering evidence inside the loft of the foster family’s home as well as lofts of neighbouring properties.
It was claimed the teenager, who had not been seen by neighbours, always used the back entrance and had built the bomb in his shed while keeping other items in the loft.
One neighbour said she had noticed a young man coming and going from the back of the property with bags.
Another said the teenager moved in a couple of months ago, describing him as ‘Arabic looking but he had thick curly hair in a bob.’
Stephen Griffiths, 28, who lives opposite the house, said he saw police at least five times over the past four weeks leading up to the Parsons Green attack.
He said: ‘Ron and Penny are role models, they are the only good thing about this street, there is a lot of trouble around here with violence and drugs.
‘I heard they had come out of retirement to foster more children but now this means they will probably never be able to foster children again, it is such a shame.
‘We were told by Tory councillor Allison Griffiths of police concerns of finding another bomb on Saturday morning at 9am, but were only evacuated at 1pm. I don’t understand why it took so long?
‘But I have never seen him enter or exit the house and I live opposite so it would make sense that he always used the back door.’
Neighbours who live near Ron and Penelope Jones (pictured on a cruise) have said the couple are the only good thing about their street in Sunbury
Yahya Faroukh (pictured in the street) also stayed with the couple and has been arrested
One resident who lives nearby said: ‘My parents live opposite and we had heard that one of the kids was a little bit hard to handle, but it shouldn’t reflect on Ron and Penny, they do a great job and should be applauded for it.
‘Everyone wants to know who he is, we were so shocked when we heard about it.’
The 18-year-old Iraqi refugee was said to have been in frequent trouble with the police and authorities.
His desperate foster parents were alleged to have been struggling to cope.
Sources said that his behaviour had become so bad he had been referred to Prevent, the Government’s de-radicalisation programme, which aims to turn potential extremists away from terror.
The referral was apparently made several months ago through Surrey County Council, which was responsible for placing the orphan with the Jones’, who have fostered hundreds of children.
Residents have told of their shock and dismay that Penny and Ron Jones had allegedly unwittingly become involved in the terror incident
The revelation will raise new questions about what the police and security services knew about the suspect. Donald Trump sparked a row on the day of the attack by suggesting police had had him ‘in their sights’.
Footage has emerged of a suspect striding through the streets with a Lidl bag thought to contain a bucket of homemade explosive chemicals.
Wearing a red cap, he strolled past shops and pedestrians towards Sunbury station, where he is believed to have taken a train to Wimbledon for a District Line tube to Parsons Green.
CCTV footage obtained by ITV News also shows the teenager cycling around the area in the days before the blast holding a Union Jack carrier bag.
Last night a third man was arrested in connection with the Parsons Green terror attack, Scotland Yard said.
The 25-year-old was held in a counter-terrorism raid in Newport, South Wales, shortly after 7pm on Tuesday.
Witnesses to the arrest described officers ‘jumping’ a man who was put into a police car and driven away.
This morning a 48-year-old man and 30-year-old man were also arrested in Newport.
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