Cops search home over petrol bomb attack as it’s revealed suspect, 66, ‘did recce at Dover migrant centre’

POLICE are searching a home 120 miles from where a "laughing" petrol bomber attacked a migrant centre after a surveillance mission.

Up to three incendiary devices were chucked from a car into the Border Force site in Dover yesterday sparking a huge blaze.

Police later confirmed the 66-year-old suspect was found dead at a nearby petrol station.

The man had hanged himself moments after the attack, it is understood.

Police are now searching a home more than 118 miles away in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where the suspect lived.

It has now emerged he was caught the night before carrying out a reconnaissance mission of the site.

Security guards had spotted him acting suspiciously while in his white SEAT car but failed to report it to police, it is claimed.

According to a source, he hurled abuse at coach drivers who were waiting to carry migrants away from the site.

The insider added: "It's outrageous that these security guards failed to act on behaviour which was clearly suspicious.

"He did laps of the car park and was parked for some time in darkness.

"It was a carefully planned, well prepared, pre thought-out ambush rather than a spur of the moment attack.

"Had the police been told about his recce, this whole horror incident might have been prevented."

Chilling footage showed him chucking the bombs - one of which did not go off - from a white SEAT car.

The devices appeared to be a lit firework taped to a plastic cannister.

Local Gary Smith, 31, claimed the driver was laughing as he flung them out of the window.

He said: “I was walking over a nearby bridge and I could see him throwing the bombs.

“They were making loud bangs. I think he threw about four or five.

“He was just laughing while he was doing it. It was crazy."

Another terrified witness said the explosion sounded like "cannons going off" as "all hell broke loose".

The horror, which left two other people injured, caused a mass evacuation of around 700 migrants from the Western Jet Foil site.

It came as the migrant crisis deepens in the UK.

Growing numbers of people travelling across the Channel means immigration centres are becoming overcrowded with conditions deteriorating.

Sir Roger Gale, Conservative MP for North Thanet, said there are now more than 4,000 people at a facility in Manston the migrants were moved to in a "breach of humane conditions".

He said: "Up until about five weeks ago the system was working as it was intended to, very well indeed.

"It's now broken and it's got to be mended fast."

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was receiving regular updates on the "distressing incident".

It is believed the incident was not terror-related, with initial inquiries suggesting the man had a history of mental health problems.

Kent Police said: "Officers established that two to three incendiary devices had been thrown into a Home Office immigration premises by a single suspect who arrived at the scene in a car.

"Two people have reported minor injuries from inside the property.

"The suspect was identified and very quickly located at a nearby petrol station, and confirmed deceased.

"The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit attended the location to ensure there were no further threats. A further device was found and confirmed safe within the suspect's vehicle.

"The site remained open, however around 700 suspected migrants were relocated to Manston to ensure safety during the initial phase of the police investigation."