999 caller has only ‘partial picture’ of RAF Fairford incident, says Streeting
The villager who said she raised the alarm about vans blocking a road near RAF Fairford had only “a partial picture” of the situation, Wes Streeting has said.
But he also told Sky News: “With respect, though, she does only have a partial picture – and that’s as far as I wish to go this morning.”
Five men were arrested on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences after armed police stopped three vans near RAF Fairford in the early hours of Sunday.
The villager told the Press Association at the weekend that she spotted the vehicles “blocking the road” while she was driving home, before seeing a “large group of hooded and ‘balaclava’d’ men”.
“They would have seen the bright headlights,” she said.
“They probably thought we were the police (and) panicked.”
She added: “It would appear that by doing so I just derailed whatever they were planning.”
Officers arrived on the scene around 15 minutes after she dialled 999, she said.
A cordon was put in place near RAF Fairford, which is used by the US Air Force, and more than 80 evacuated households were unable to return home on Sunday night.
Mr Streeting said “thank you to that member of the public” who phoned the police.
He continued: “She has done exactly what we would hope that someone in that extraordinary situation would do.
“I’m really grateful to her – I think she acted, by her own admission, quickly and thoughtfully, and she did the right thing.
“With respect, though, she does only have a partial picture.
“And that’s as far as I wish to go this morning, but I do want to emphasise my thanks to the police and the security services because their work takes place often unsung, unreported, for good reason.”
The villager told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday she tried to phone the Ministry of Defence Police about the men she saw.
“The phone rang out and they didn’t answer,” she said.
“At 1.36am I called 999 to report what I had seen. Within 10 minutes, the village was full of armed police.
“I think it was pure luck that I arrived in the village at a similar time to the vans.
“I am absolutely staggered that it was left to me, as a member of the public, to see and report this.
“The airbase were operating a roadblock close to the entrance to the base, but not on any of the other roads.
“But we assumed someone would be monitoring the roads around the base perimeter and taking regular patrols in the village – clearly this was not happening.”
The villager also said the “vans were within metres of houses”, adding: “I’m just really keen to highlight that it appears someone really dropped the ball on this.”
Asked about the villager’s evidence, Mr Streeting repeated his earlier comment that “she had a partial picture”.
He also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I also want to say this morning, in that spirit, an enormous thank you to our police, to our counter-terrorism police, to our security services, for the work they did in this situation to contain this and to prevent there being actual harm to our base at Fairford.”
US President Donald Trump had alleged plotters were “looking to do big damage” to the airbase.
He also told reporters: “It was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job.”
Mr Streeting said Mr Trump’s comments illustrated that UK security services were made up of “extraordinary people with extraordinary capability that are respected even by a superpower like the United States”.
He added: “I think it was a proud moment yesterday to see the president of the United States recognise the extraordinary work that our police and our security and intelligence services do every day throughout the year and throughout the world to keep us safe.
“And that’s all I want to say this morning on that.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub