A Surrey home searched by anti-terror police investigating the Parsons Green bombing is owned by an elderly foster couple honoured for their work with child refugees.

The property is registered to Ronald Jones, 88, and his 71-year-old wife Penelope, who were awarded MBEs by the Queen in 2010 for services to children and families.

The search at the well-respected couple's house in Cavendish Road in Sunbury-on-Thames follows the "very significant arrest" of an 18-year-old in Dover.

The teenager is the is now being held at a London police station. A second man, aged 21, was also arrested in Hounslow on Sunday.

In the operation by armed police in Surrey, Cavendish Road was evacuated as a precautionary measure.


Image: Penelope Jones and her husband Ronald have been described as 'beautiful people'

Local resident Nicola Ryder described Mr and Mrs Jones as "beautiful people".

She said she knew them as Penny and Ron, and that they would foster up to seven young people at a time.

The couple are believed to have been foster parents for almost 40 years and had taken in 268 children.

Moment armed police entered Surrey house

Cordons have been set up at a 100-metre radius from the Sunbury property which will remain in place until the search has been completed.

After the evacuation, residents of Cavendish Road went to a local rugby club and some were taken by bus to a community centre in Shepperton.

They were allowed to return to their homes later on Saturday night.

Image: Forensic officers search a property in Sunbury

Mojgan Jamali, 33, who lives in Cavendish Road, said she was given "one minute" by police to pack her bags, grab her children and leave her home.

"I was in my house with my children and there was a knock at the door from the police.

"They told me to leave," said Mrs Jamali.

"They said: 'You have one minute to get out of the house and get away.'

"I just got out, I got my three children and we left the house and the street.'"

Residents gather at the bottom of the road in #Sunbury evacuated after a police raid around 2pm, connected with the #ParsonsGreen attack pic.twitter.com/sKxeSJfl3E — Lorna Shaddick (@lornashaddick) September 16, 2017

Officers began evacuating homes at around 1.40pm and residents were being directed to the nearby Staines Rugby Club.

The majority have been allowed back into their homes now, but some remain displaced by the police investigation.

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The Home Secretary Amber Rudd described the earlier arrest of an 18-year-old man in connection with Friday morning's attack as "very significant", but added "the operation is ongoing".

Image: Police at the scene in Cavendish Road, Sunbury

Thirty people were injured in the explosion during the Friday morning rush hour as the District Line train was pulling into the west London station of Parsons Green.

Of those injured, 19 victims were taken to hospital by ambulance, while 11 presented themselves for treatment. All but one have now been released from hospital.

The attack sparked a huge manhunt for a potential network of plotters, with the country's top counter-terrorism officer suggesting more than one suspect could have been involved.

The UK's terror threat level was raised to critical - the highest level - late on Friday, meaning another attack is expected imminently.

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Mrs Rudd said that the threat level will remain at critical, and that it was "good fortune" that the bomb did "so little damage".

She added it was "too early" to say whether those responsible for the Parsons Green bombing were known to the authorities.

"We will have to make sure to take all steps that we can to ensure the sort of materials that this man was able to collect become more and more difficult to combine together.

"We will always learn from these sort of incidents."