The man from number 10 Northern Road was a figure of contrasts. Neighbors would see him hurrying to and from his red Fiat Brava, carrying his baby in doting fashion. Sometimes they would be forced to berate him as he blared Arabic music from his house and his car, often in the early hours.
On Thursday the same residents were coming to terms with the idea of Lindsey Germail in yet another guise: that of the fourth London bomber, the man who killed 23 by carrying out a suicide bombing on the Piccadilly line of the London underground train network.
Germail, believed to be of Jamaican origin, had lived with his partner, Samantha Lewthwaite, and their baby in the small red bricked house in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, north west of London, for seven weeks.
On Thursday it was obscured by blue plastic sheeting as anti-terrorist squad officers conducted a fingertip search.
The road was taped off. Only residents were allowed to come and go and traffic was halted. All of which heightened the sense of shock that someone widely believed to be a key figure in the atrocities should have been part -- albeit for a short time -- of their community.
Tom Ahmed, a neighbor and a local councillor, said: "We are a very small town and we are devastated to think that we had someone in our midst who was linked to such terrible things. This community is united and will remain united regardless of those who seek to divide us."
Those who work in the small row of shops less than 200m from the suspect's house also expressed shock and dismay. Aman Azram, 23, an insurance clerk, stood by the doorway, incredulous.
"These people might think they are good Muslims, but they are not. I was born and bred here. They just make life harder for the rest of us," he said.
He had not met Germail. Few residents had. They had seen the stocky figure, of medium height with his short curly hair and penchant for relaxed, casual clothing.
They had seen his wife, an English woman -- and by some accounts a local woman -- who had converted to Islam and always wore long flowing black gowns.
Germail is understood to have used several different surnames since his conversion to Islam. In April last year, for example, he used the surname Jamal when registering the birth of his son
They rented the property from a letting agent when the owner moved to the city of Oxford about 40km away, but made little effort to engage with the close-knit community they had entered.
One elderly neighbor, who declined to be named, said: "I saw him on a daily basis. I don't think he worked because he was always around during the day, taking the baby in and out of the Fiat Brava."
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