Neighbours of suspect shocked

THERE was disbelief last night among residents of a quiet Leeds street at the possibility that one of the London bombers may have lived among them.

One man who lives in Colwyn Road in the run down Beeston area of the city, said: “No, not here. This is just a normal community where people do normal things. There’s lots and lots of families. Ordinary families.”

Many residents gathered behind the blue and white police tape which has sealed off a 50-yard stretch of the road around No 51 since early yesterday morning.

Police and white-suited forensic officers were last night continuing to work at the semi-detached property.

The white pebbledash house is one of a series of run-down semis, strung along one side of the typical south Leeds street, which are mainly owned by Asian families.

The street is just off the main Leeds to Dewsbury road, about two miles from the city centre, and a stone’s throw from one of the main police stations in West Yorkshire.

People living close by said that there was no extremism or fundamentalism in the area, insisting most families were “good Muslims.”

“There’s lots of young families and people getting on with their lives here. The mosque here is a normal mosque and everyone gets on,” one man said.

Local people said the family at No 51 had lived there for a number of years and the head of the household was a well respected local businessman who runs a fish and chip shop about a quarter of a mile away.

They said he lives at the house with his wife, two daughters and two sons.

Local residents said one of the people living at 51 Colwyn Road was 22-year-old Shahzad Tanweer. Some said he had not been seen for a number of days.

But his friend, Mohammed Answar, 19, said there was no way he could have been involved in the London atrocities.

“It’s impossible. It’s not in his nature to do something like this,” he said.