The terror suspect accused of stabbing Sir David Amess to death showed an interest in radical Islam and was referred to the Prevent programme after finishing school, it is alleged.
Police and MI5 are said to be mystified about why the veteran Tory politician was singled out for attack by a suspected Islamic extremist.
Ali Harbi Ali, 25, was referred to Prevent, the Government's counter-terrorism programme, several years ago – but his behaviour was not considered to be extreme enough to alert MI5.
His referral is understood to have coincided with a deterioration in his relationship with his Somali-born parents.
Born in Southwark to a family described as 'high class' in Somalia, Ali grew up in a three-bed 1980s terrace house in Croydon with his mother, two sisters and younger brother. His parents split up when he was young and his father returned to Somalia.
One neighbour, who has known the family for 20 years, said Ali spoke of hopes of becoming a doctor. 'He told me he'd been doing exams and he seemed westernised,' the neighbour said.
But after finishing school, Ali is alleged to have shown an interest in radical Islam and was referred to the Prevent programme.
He decided to move in with an aunt and her sons in a council house in the upmarket north London enclave of Kentish Town, in a street of £2 million three-storey townhouses.
MP Mark Francois lays flowers at the scene near Belfairs Methodist Church in Eastwood Road North
Candles are lit next to a portrait of David Amess during a vigil for him at St Michaels Church, in Leigh-on-Sea
People look at flowers left by the police cordon nearby the Belfairs Methodist Church
As police continued to quiz the London-born suspect, his father spoke of the family's shock. Harbi Ali Kullane, a former media and communications adviser to the Prime Minister of Somalia, said he was 'traumatised' by his son's arrest.
He added: 'At this particular moment we are going through [an] unprecedented and horrific
