Neighbours at one address in a quiet cul-de-sac described how the 20-year-old son of the family, a former grammar school pupil and art student, had converted to Islam about a year ago, to the concern of his mother. He married a Muslim woman just a month ago and she moved in with him and his mother, a PE teacher…Neighbours said since his conversion to Islam, the son had shaved his head, grown a beard and changed his name…In Walton Drive, where the nine homes were evacuated, two brothers were believed to have been arrested. The brothers, who are both married, live in the semi-detached house with their wives and parents. A friend said: “They are good mates of mine, practising Muslims…Other neighbours said the brothers had recently shunned their mosque and become “more insular”. They said the brothers, in their mid or late 20s, had started to wear more traditional clothing and visited an Islamic bookshop. Another two houses, owned by the same family, half a mile away in Micklefield Road, were also raided. A friend of one of the suspects arrested at Micklefield Road said the man turned to the radical side of Islam two years ago after travelling to Pakistan. The friend said: “When he came back everyone noticed changes in him. “He was more twitchy and nervous and seemed to be always looking over his shoulder.” The friend added that the arrested man, who was in his late 20s, was believed to be an international dealer in sports cars.
Long-distance psychiatric analysis is usually a mistake, but in these cases, it’s tempting…