Parsons Green bomber's foster carers sue council because no one told them he'd been 'trained to kill' by Isis
'On the surface he was a lovely boy ... So when it came out he was building a bomb in our home it was a real shock'
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Your support makes all the difference.The foster carers of the Parsons Green bomber are suing Surrey County Council for failing to disclose he had been “trained to kill” by Isis.
Ron and Penny Jones fostered Iraqi asylum seeker Ahmed Hassan, who pretended to engage with the anti-extremism Prevent scheme as he plotted mass murder in London.
He was sentenced to life with a minimum of 34 years at the Old Bailey last year, after setting off a bomb with 400g of “Mother of Satan” explosive and 2.2kg of shrapnel at Parsons Green station, injuring 51 passengers on 15 September, 2017.
The Joneses, who were awarded an MBE in 2010, are claiming the council presented him “merely as a troubled young person” and did not disclose key information about the danger he posed.
During his trial, it was revealed Hassan arrived in Britain illegally in 2015 and told officials he had trained with Isis.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mr and Ms Jones, who fostered 269 children in 47 years, said they have been “betrayed” and “hung out to dry” by Surrey County Council, as they have not been asked to foster any more children since Hassan’s arrest.
Ms Jones, 72, said: “We want to make sure that no other foster carers are ever treated like we have been.”
The couple are claiming the council was negligent in not telling them the full story about Hassan’s past and that the council had breached their right to family life as protected under the Human Rights Act.
“They told me that he had tried to kill himself and would only be released if he was fostered into a stable home so we took him in,” Ms Jones said.
“On the surface he was a lovely boy. He wouldn’t let Ron mow the lawn and he would always carry the shopping in from the car. So when it came out he was building a bomb in our home it was a real shock.”
Mr Jones said: “We were told that the amount of explosives he had was enough to blow up this entire block of six houses. It’s terrifying.”
Ms Jones added: “When Ahmed’s trial was going on, I was asked if I knew if he had said he was trained to kill by Isis and I said no, we would never have taken him if we’d known.
“Caring for kids was my life and now this has been taken away from us.”
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