The foster parents for the 18-year-old now considered the prime suspect in the Parsons Green bucket bombing knew little about him before taking him in, friends said today.

Penny and Ronald Jones reportedly learned more from police about the teenager in the past three days than they learned from Surrey County Council, who placed him in Sunbury-on-Thames.

Neighbours have described how the boy was 'trouble' and the Jones' had been contacting officials saying they were unable to cope before his arrest.

A family friend told The Times: 'They were aware he had been in an ISIS-controlled area but there was a lack of information about what appears now to have been a very troubled past.

'Penny and Ron are very good people. They've been doing what decent English people have been doing for decades and that is offering a helping hand. They're not to blame for this situation'. 

Experts have said that in many cases foster receiving refugees are only told a first name, their age and where they came from.

One former social services official, who was a foster carer and then ran a fostering service for a council, told MailOnline: 'The information that we get is just first name, age and where they come from, often after being age assessed it turns out that they are older, or they cannot assess a correct age. 

'Of course the young person says they are fleeing their country as they are in danger, and many are, but it has always concerned me that we do not know if they may be a possible threat. 

'Foster carers are being placed in a very difficult position as are us staff who place the young people in carers homes'.

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