Police raid High Wycombe property after petrol bomber attacked Dover immigration centre

Police are raiding a High Wycombe property after a ‘laughing’ petrol bomber drove ‘more than 100 miles’ to lob three home-made explosives at a Dover immigration centre after ‘carrying out a recce’ the night before the attack.

Kent Police and Thames Valley Police are searching a Buckinghamshire property after confirming that the Dover migrant centre firebomber was from the High Wycombe area.

Earlier today a source revealed that the 66-year-old had carried out ‘a recce’ the night before the attack.

He was seen by port security driving past the Western Jet Foil centre on the dockside several times on Saturday evening after driving more than 100 miles to get there. 

The man returned to the centre yesterday morning and hurled three petrol bombs at a security checkpoint before driving to a nearby petrol station and killing himself. 

It emerged today that after hurling the petrol bombs, he told coach drivers waiting to transport migrants: ‘Do you know what you’re doing? Your children should be raped and killed!’ 

It comes as police continue to try to piece together why the man threw the incendiary devices before taking his own life. 

Kent Police said today that officers from Thames Valley Police are searching a property in High Wycombe. The town is 118 miles from Dover. 

‘All hell broke loose’ when the driver was seen laughing as he threw the devices at the centre where nearly 1,000 migrants were brought for processing less than 24 hours earlier.

The attack came as Britain’s migrant crisis intensified yesterday amid new fears over the number of arrivals and the conditions they are being held in. The number of small boat migrants who have reached the UK so far this year is near 40,000. 

Pictures captured the moment the white man, who has not been named, reached out of his car window and tossed a petrol canister, which appeared to have a firework strapped to it.

Video footage showed a fire ripple through the barriers surrounding the holding facility, where huge lines of migrants were seen waiting to be processed on Saturday as 990 arrived in one day alone. 

Minutes after the attack yesterday morning, the man killed himself at a nearby BP garage, according to a Reuters photographer who saw the incident involving his white Seat Tarraco SUV, which had a blue disabled badge on the dashboard.

A motive remains unclear but police have said they are not treating it as terrorism. 

It is understood that police have so far failed to establish a link between the attacker and any far-Right groups. 

Early investigations suggest that the petrol bomber had not published any online posts which suggested a link with extremism. And initial background searches by detectives indicate he was operating alone, sources said.

Natalie Elphicke, the Tory MP for Dover, said: ‘With numbers of arrivals spiralling and tensions rising, it’s now vital to see action taken to end the small boats crisis.’

A man throws a petrol bomb out of a car window next to the Border Force centre in Dover on Sunday morning

Flames could be seen on the ground as the man threw a petrol bomb with a firework attached out of the car window 

The bomb thrown from a window. Another improvised explosive was found in the car after the driver died

One of the three bombs is understood not to have gone off, while two others are believed to have become ignited

Another fire burns next to the Border Force centre after the firebomb attack in Dover

The driver left the scene and went to a nearby petrol station where he is believed to have killed himself

Migrants are brought to the site in Dover after crossing the Channel in dinghies yesterday – just before it was attacked 

A map shows the location of the migrant processing centre where the man threw three petrol bombs before driving to a nearby garage and taking his own life according to witnesses

A source told MailOnline today: ‘The man had driven 2-3 hours to Kent. He lived much further west than Dover.

‘He was seen by the Dover’s port security on Saturday night driving suspiciously past the migrant centre and around the car park.

‘The thinking is that he was probably carrying out some sort of recce. However, the security did not alert the police.

‘He returned the following morning and targeted the immigration centre with a number of petrol bombs.

‘After he had thrown the incendiary devices he drove past coach drivers who were waiting to transport some of the migrants and shouted abuse at them.

‘He yelled: “Look at what you’re going. Your children should be raped and killed!”.

Lorry driver Mark Wilkinson had earlier told KentOnline: ‘I was going for a coffee and when I arrived at the garage I was told I couldn’t cross the road into the garage because it was a crime scene. As I walked past I saw a car with a body. At first I thought it was a gangland killing or something but obviously it wasn’t. The guy who died seemed to be in his late 50s or early 60s. He was white and grey haired and looked fairly well dressed.’

Concerns are growing over a second asylum processing site in Manston, Kent, where there has been an outbreak of diphtheria and fights have erupted between migrants. A union warned yesterday that the centre was like a ‘pressure cooker’. Home Secretary Suella Braverman was said to have blocked the transfer of migrants from the centre amid the soaring cost of housing them in hotels, which is around £6million per day.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being kept informed about the situation, his official spokesman said today.

‘Certainly the Prime Minister is being kept up to date on the situation in Manston,’ the spokesman said.

The Home Office is ‘working on additional accommodation’, the spokesman added.

Whistleblowers from the camp told the Daily Mail over the weekend: ‘Fights have broken out between Albanians and Eritreans using sharpened combs from their Home Office washbags as weapons.’

They added: ‘A small Army detachment is inside to help keep order. We have been told riot police are on standby to enter if the migrants kick off in the next few days. It is a tinder box. Migrants have attacked Border Force officials and security staff, who are scared and outnumbered.’

Kent Police confirmed the suspect had died at ‘a nearby petrol station’. In a statement it said ‘two to three incendiary devices had been thrown outside and into the premises’ and they’d found a further device in the man’s car.

It said: ‘Two people have reported minor injuries from inside the property. The site remained open, however around 700 suspected migrants were relocated to Manston to ensure safety during the initial phase of the police investigation.’

Britain’s migrant crisis intensified yesterday with a petrol bomb attack at a processing centre in Dover.

Witnesses described seeing a ‘laughing’ man target the facility with up to three improvised devices before he apparently killed himself at a nearby petrol station.

Natalie Elphicke, the Tory MP for Dover, said that ‘tensions have been running high’.  Environment minister Mark Spencer has said the UK needs to find a way to deal with migrants ‘compassionately’ as he acknowledged there are ‘huge challenges’ in the system.

It comes as the Home Secretary has come under scrutiny for her handling of worsening conditions at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent.

Asked about alleged overcrowding at the facility, Mr Spencer told Sky News: ‘Of course, when they get here, we’ve got to try and find a way of dealing with them compassionately and looking after them and processing them as quickly as possible.

‘There are competing ambitions to try and get people processed, but also to look after them and keep them safe.’

He added: ‘Clearly we have an obligation to look after these people and to support them and to keep them safe, and there are huge challenges, I acknowledge that. We’ve got to try and deal with these people compassionately and quickly.’

Last night Mrs Braverman described the incident as ‘distressing’ and said she was receiving ‘regular updates on the situation’.

Migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats arrive at the Dover centre before being taken to the Manston asylum processing site.

They are meant to stay at Manston for a maximum of 24 hours while they undergo checks before being moved into immigration detention centres or asylum accommodation such as hotels.

But some of the 2,600 migrants at the site, which is meant to only hold 1,600, have been there for up to four weeks. 

On Sunday night, it was believed to be housing 4,000 people, The Telegraph reported.  

There are cases of diphtheria and scabies – and the Guardian reported there was a case of MRSA. Staff are also reporting outbreaks of violence amid tensions over the conditions.

Andy Baxter, assistant general secretary of the POA, said Manston has unfolded as a ‘humanitarian crisis on British soil’, with ‘pressure cooker’ conditions building.

A man threw three petrol bombs at a migrant processing centre in Kent, and took his own life according to witnesses

Members of the military and UK Border Force extinguish a fire from a petrol bomb in Dover, Kent

Forensic officers by the car allegedly involved in an incident near the migrant processing centre in Dover, Kent, on Sunday

But Mrs Braverman was said to have blocked the transfer of migrants from the centre amid the soaring cost of housing them in hotels, which is around £6million per day.

A government source has now revealed that the Home Office is looking at booking individual rooms in hotels instead of the entire site. 

‘To make it easier and more efficient, we are looking at spot booking of hotels rather than requiring a whole hotel,’ the source told The Telegraph.

‘We have two competing legal duties. First, we don’t want to have people in Manston for too long. Secondly, we have a legal duty not to make people destitute. You cannot have thousands of people sent away with no plan to safely accommodate them.’

Holiday parks and former student accommodation blocks are reportedly also being considered as Ms Braverman faces pressure to resolve the overcrowding.

She was allegedly told three weeks ago that the Government was illegally detaining thousands of people at the site, and was warned by officials that she could face expensive court action. 

A source told The Sunday Times: ‘The Government is likely to be judicially reviewed and it’s likely that all of them would be granted asylum, so it’s going to achieve the exact opposite of what she wants. These people could also launch a class action against us and cost the taxpayer millions.’

Cabinet minister Michael Gove yesterday told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme the situation at Manston is ‘deeply concerning’ but he denied that the Home Secretary ignored or dismissed legal advice.

MP Sir Roger Gale, whose constituency includes Manston, said that he wants to see MPs ‘commission enough accommodation’ for migrants to be processed within the 24 our window. 

‘The system has broken down because they are not being moved on,’ he told The Telegraph.

On Saturday, 990 migrants crossed the Channel in 24 boats, adding to the pressure. 

A total of 39,430 have now arrived on small boats so far this year – significantly higher than the 28,526 who arrived in 2021.

The Home Office said last night: ‘The Home Secretary has taken urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston and source alternative accommodation. Claims advice was deliberately ignored are completely baseless.

‘It is right we look at all available options so decisions can be made based on the latest operational and legal advice.

‘The number of people arriving in the UK via small boats has reached record levels, which has put our asylum system under incredible pressure and costs the British taxpayer millions of pounds a day.’

Yesterday the MP for Dover said the ‘truly shocking’ attack should bring new urgency to tackling the Channel crisis.

Ms Elphicke said: ‘With numbers of arrivals spiralling and tensions rising, it’s now vital to see action taken to end the small boats crisis.’

She added that people at the migrant centre are being ‘looked after’ following the ‘dreadful’ attack.

‘I think it is fair to say that tensions have been running high over the last period. And indeed, I’d raised my concerns about that with the immigration minister earlier this week,’ she told LBC radio.

After receiving welfare checks at Western Jet Foil, formerly known as Tug Haven, migrants are moved down the road to a former RAF base in Manston, Kent, for full security checks which should take no more than 24 hours.

On Sunday, witness Gary Smith, 31, claimed the suspect, who ‘looked like he was in his 50s’, was chuckling as he threw the bombs.

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

‘He was just laughing while he was doing it. It was crazy.’

Graham Hall, a 60-year-old international lorry driver from Market Harborough, said ‘it was like all hell broke loose’.

Gary Smith, 31, who saw the incident said that the man laughed as he threw the petrol bombs. 

‘I was walking over a nearby bridge and I could see him throwing the bombs,’ he told The Sun.

‘They we’re making loud bangs. I think he threw about four or five. He was just laughing while he was doing it. It was crazy.’

‘I heard what I thought was cannons going off and thought it must have been an event,’ another witness told Kent Online.

‘We paused the TV to hear. There were at least six or seven.

‘To think it was actually explosions that we heard is just so upsetting. I really hope no one is hurt.’

Police arrived on the scene within minutes along with an army bomb disposal team which examined the three explosive devices.

A BP petrol station was cordoned off and officers were seen standing by a white 69-plate SEAT SUV, which was parked by the rear car wash and covered with blue tarpaulin.

Two coaches full of asylum seekers, including a number of small children, were transported out of Western Jet Foil following the attack.

The group managed to successfully extinguish the flames after the petrol bomb was thrown

The extinguished fire from a petrol bomb at the migrant processing centre in Dover, following an attack on Sunday morning

A view of the docks and the migrant processing centre in Dover, Kent, following the incident

The car – previously covered with a tarpaulin – was concealed from view after police erected a forensic tent around it

The attacker was described as a white man in a checked top, who drove up to the centre in a white SEAT sports utility vehicle

Police officers stand by a tent around the car allegedly involved in an incident near the migrant processing centre in Dover

A police cordon remains outside the nearby petrol station, where the arsonist is understood to have taken his own life

Dozens of people were spotted being evacuated from the compound after the fire broke out

Nearly 40,000 have arrived in the UK so far this year after attempting the treacherous trip from France, crossing the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats, provisional figures show.

After around 990 made the crossing on Saturday, more crossings took place yesterday.

The highest number in a single day was set on August 22 when 1,295 people arrived in the country.

It comes after an immigration watchdog said he was left ‘speechless’ by conditions at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent, and warned the site has already passed the point of being unsafe.