RAF Fairford farmer who told cops about 'terror plot' says she saw up to 10 masked men

RAF Fairford farmer who told cops about 'terror plot' says she saw up to 10 masked men A farmer from Whelford, who raised the alert after seeing masked men by RAF Fairford, said that there were between eight and 10 people after five arrests were made The farmer who told police about the suspected RAF Fairford terror plot has claimed she saw up to 10 masked people by the base - as police said five men arrested will be bailed.The woman, in her 50s, from Whelford, alerted police after seeing three vans blocking a road near the base, which has been used by the US to bomb missile sites in Iran, while on her way back from a party.Five British nationals were then arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning on suspicion of explosives offences and later terrorism. The farmer who dialled 999 has now claimed there were "definitely more than five", and estimated she saw between eight and 10 people with their faces covered and wearing "slim-fitting clothes". She had been travelling home with her husband and a "young lad" who works for them, when she spotted the vehicles parked in a "really strange formation". She had been travelling home with her husband and a "young lad2 who works for them, when she spotted the vehicles parked in a "really strange formation". She said: "You couldn’t drive between them on the road, and you also couldn’t drive up the farm drive, and I think this has been one of the funny things that people are saying: ‘How could you notice?’ "But when you live in Whelford, you notice everything. We all know what cars each other drive, we know who we are, we know the people that cycle through regularly." One of the vans had some "strange sign writing on it" she said and initially she believed it was a vehicle belonging to undercover police. She said: "We had a bit of a look at the vans, established there was no one in there, tried to phone the number on the side, just in case we could get it moved, so we could drive down to the farmyard, and the number didn't work." After dropping off their employee, the farmers turned around and drove back the way they had come. "We suddenly saw a large group of men," she said. "Our vehicle is quite similar to the patrol vehicles that they use, and we had our lights on main beam. I think we sort of dazzled them, and they started to run, and some of them ran straight ahead across the road into the field, and some turned and started going down towards Kempsford, which is our next village."The farmer then said she tried to call the MoD police, but the phone "just rang and rang and rang, and no one answered", before she called 101 and was put on hold.She phoned 999 at 01:36am and messaged the village WhatsApp group to alert people to the unusual activity. "Literally within five minutes of that, everything sort of kicked off, and armed police arrived, the guys were arrested," she said."The helicopter was up searching, probably for a couple of hours and there was a lot of shouting." She added: "The strange thing is, there was no kind of follow up."The police didn't ring me, they had all my details, they didn’t phone me back, and nobody told anyone in the village what was going on apart from me. It wasn’t until probably half six in the morning when they suddenly decide to evacuate people."Meanwhile, those vans were right in the middle of the village, next to everyone’s houses and no one did anything." Responding to her account, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said earlier on Monday that she only had "a partial picture" of the situation.The farmer told reporters: "I know it’s been said by some of the higher ups today that I didn’t have the full picture, but the picture I had was three extremely unusual vehicles parked in the middle of our village and a group of unknown men running around."So, that’s my picture, I don’t know whether that’s the full picture or not.” She added: “I don’t know how he knows what picture I’ve got, I’ve never met him."Literally nobody in any sort of official capacity has been in touch with me or anyone else in the village, no follow up at all, even now, from the police who had my number when I reported it to 999, so it’s just very odd."Gloucestershire Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone previously said a report relating to "three suspicious vehicles" travelling towards the base had been received at 12.45am.The farmer said: "I think I’d like a bit of acknowledgement that there was a mess-up, instead of the silly talking about parts of the story. I am a real person, I’m not an undercover agent, I’m not a nosy neighbour. "I think there needs to be an acknowledgement about what actually did happen and what the sequence of events are, because that’s the only way anyone can learn how to manage it going forward. "If they genuinely had a call about those vans at quarter to one, what happened in the three-quarters of an hour between that and me stumbling upon them in the village?” Meanwhile, in an update UK's counter terrorism policing head Lawrence Taylor said police are still investigating whether a foreign state was behind the suspected attacks. The five men who were arrested in the early hours of Sunday, who are British nationals from London, have been released on bail pending further enquiries.Speaking at a press conference at New Scotland Yard, Mr Taylor said the decision to release the five on bail came after "extensive interviews and inquiries".He said: "To be very clear, this does not mean that the investigation is over. They are subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others. They absolutely remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of inquiry."He added that the police realised there is "significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident". He said: "At counter-terrorism policing, we are working within this context every single day, and at this stage, we are keeping an open mind in this investigation."We have, as you would expect, ensured that our protective security advice and posture remain commensurate to the threat. But be assured, we are considering this from every possible angle, including that this may be actively committed by proxies or individuals, either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.