House searched for clues on Syria ‘bomber’

Officers are examining a house in Martyrs Avenue, Langley Green, Crawley, West Sussex, after reports that a UK jihadi, named as Abdul Waheed Majeed, 41, carried out the deadly bombing.

He is said to have driven a lorry into a jail in Aleppo and detonated a bomb last week. Officials have not confirmed the identity of the bomber amid reports that a UK jihadi, who used the name Abu Suleiman al-Britani, carried out the bombing.

He is thought to be the first Briton to stage a suicide attack in the war-torn state, where increasing numbers of UK-born extremists have gone to fight.

The married father-of-three, born in Crawley, is said to have left the UK six months ago, telling his family he was going on a humanitarian mission to Syria.

Counter-terrorism teams in the UK have grown increasingly concerned about the trend of young Britons travelling to Syria to train to fight with jihadi groups, and the potential that they could return and stage attacks on UK soil.

A police officer stood guard outside the two-storey, end-of-terrace property yesterday.

Arif Syed, a community leader in Crawley, said Majeed would phone or Skype his family every three days, but communication was lost with him about seven days ago.

Majeed’s uncle, Mohammad Jamil, 65, said he had never shown any sign of extremism. He said: “If the family knew about this, we wouldn’t have let him go.”

He added: “The bottom line is that the police cannot confirm it, there is no confirmation and the family has got hope that as long as there is no confirmation, we hope that he will turn up.”

Neighbour Nita Bateman said Roy Whiting, who murdered eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in 2000 in West Sussex, used to live at the house.

Ms Bateman, 55, expressed shock at the revelations that the house could have been used by a suicide bomber, describing him as a “pleasant chap”.

She said: “I’m beginning to wonder whether it’s something to do with that house. He was the next person to move in after Roy Whiting’s dad moved out.

“I didn’t really see him on a daily basis, but you would never have a bad word to say about him – he was just a pleasant chap.”