Home secretary says ‘good progress’ has been made in investigation, with threat level taken down from critical to severe

Detectives are continuing to question two men, aged 18 and 21, arrested in connection with Friday’s London Underground attack as the government concluded a follow-up attack was not imminent and downgraded the UK terror threat assessment from critical to severe.

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, claimed “good progress” had been made in the investigation following the rush hour incident on Friday morning which involved a crude bomb which failed to detonate properly but still resulted in injuries to 30 people at Parsons Green tube station.

Police searched three addresses in Surrey and west London on Sunday, one the home of a couple who fostered children and who were decorated by the Queen for their public service, the other believed to be the home of a 21-year-old man close to the perimeter road of Heathrow airport in Stanwell who was arrested late on Saturday. It was unclear what connection the third address had with the investigation.

Play Video 0:42 Amber Rudd: UK terror threat level reduced to 'severe' – video

Both men remain in police custody under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which allows police to detain suspects without charge beyond the four days allowed for suspects connected to other crimes.

Police described the arrest of the 18-year-old in the departure area of the Port of Dover on Saturday morning as significant. Rudd said it appeared the bomber was not a lone wolf but it was “too early to reach any final conclusions on that”.

The foster home had recently hosted refugees from conflict zones, according to neighbours.

Scotland Yard declined to comment on the nationality of the arrested 18-year-old. The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner, Mark Rowley, the national lead for counter-terrorism policing, said the investigation had proceeded at “high pace” and it was becoming clear how the device, which was fitted with a timer, was made. Investigators do not believe the attacker was present when it exploded on a District line train heading for central London.

Rowley said on Sunday afternoon: “There are now two searches continuing at addresses in Hounslow and Surrey and we are getting a greater understanding of the preparation of the device. There is still much more to do but this greater clarity and this progress has led the joint terrorism analysis centre – the independent body that assess threat – to come to the judgement that an attack is no longer imminent.”

Meanwhile, CCTV images emerged appearing to show a person walking with a Lidl bag on the morning of Friday’s rush hour tube attack. The footage, acquired by ITV News, is reported to have been filmed near a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, which is at the centre of one of two police raids.

Play Video 0:10 London tube blast: CCTV shows man carrying Lidl bag - video

Images posted on social media after the Parsons Green attack showed wires protruding from a bucket on fire inside a plastic Lidl carrier bag on the floor of a train carriage.

Military personnel who were mobilised when the threat level was raised on Friday evening will return to normal duties, Rudd said, but she urged the public to “continue to be vigilant but not be alarmed”.

She said there was no evidence that other explosive devices were in circulation, as had reportedly been claimed by representatives of Islamic State.

Rowley said the travelling public would still see a high level of policing, armed and unarmed, on Monday morning.

“Military personnel will remain at readiness to deploy in support of the police should future security situations require,” he said.

All but one of the 30 people hospitalised on Friday have been discharged. One patient remains at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, according to NHS England. The victimssuffered flash burns and injuries caused in the ensuing panic and stampede.

In Sunbury-on-Thames, where about 60 homes were temporarily evacuated on Saturday “as a precaution” while police investigated a suspected bomb factory at a foster home, neighbours told how foster carers Ronald and Penelope Jones, 88 and 71, had taken in up to 300 children during their career, including eight refugees, and had an 18-year-old staying with them recently.

'Beautiful people': the foster carers raided by counter-terrorism police Read more

Dave Solway, a 44-year-old builder who lives opposite the Jones family, said the couple had two children living with them, one of whom had been there “a couple of years”.

Alison Griffiths, a local councillor, told the Guardian: “I know Penny because she comes down to the shopping centre. She is a really lovely person. I was aware that there were two children in her care.”

The Joneses, who were made MBEs in 2010, are understood to be staying with friends and have been unavailable for comment.

Police scaled back the cordon around the property on Sunday and told residents there were no safety risks caused by the ongoing investigations. An inner cordon of 10 houses remained in place.

In Stanwell, residents said a 21-year old who was arrested in nearby Hounslow late on Saturday, kept late hours and worked in a job with a uniform, possibly security.

“He has always been polite with us.” said Pat Hodge, 59. “I was up some nights from 11pm and he would be coming home and friends would knock on the door between 2 and 3am. You would see people in there looking like they were playing a games console. They used to sit out in the garden and smoke shisha.”

map Attack and arrests

The attack renewed focus on the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy. The Home Office launched a recruitment campaign on Sunday to find the head of a new counter-extremism commission intended to help train staff at schools and colleges to spot signs that youngsters were being radicalised.

Rudd said it would “identify and challenge tolerance of extremism, tackle extremist ideology and promote British values, learning the lessons from the struggle against racism in the 20th century”.

Meanwhile, Theresa May said the government was talking to internet companies such as Google and Facebook about “doing more” to tackle extremism online and said she would raise the issue at the UN general assembly this week.

“One of the issues that we really need to be addressing, and I’ll be raising this when I’m at the UN, is the question of the use of the internet by terrorists for terrorist planning,” the prime minister said. “But also this using it for the spread of extremism, of hatred, of propaganda that can incite and can inspire terrorism.”



