THE events of Tuesday night have sent shockwaves through the small cul-de-sac in Clitheroe where Philip McHugh has lived for the past three-and-a-half years.

Neighbours said police swooped on the terraced property at around 9pm and arrested the 51-year-old father-of-two shortly afterwards.

They described McHugh as somewhat of a recluse and an 'oddball' - but said that the arrest had come as a complete surprise.

Unemployed McHugh lives with his wife and two teenage children in a rented house in Milton Avenue, Clitheroe.

His neighbours said they did not know much about the former charity shop worker and said his A Class Mercedes car had been absent from the property for several weeks.

Neighbours said they knew little of the man himself but spoke highly of his wife, who impressed people living nearby with her friendliness.

Neighbour Dave Grooby, 37, always found McHugh to be "very quiet" and added: "I was in total shock when the police carted him away.

"All the road and (nearby) Waddington Road was closed off as I came back from work early on Wednesday morning. I saw two black police vans parked in the road.

"I did not know what was going on and have never seen anything like this around here.

"I know he had a wife and two kids and they always seemed very nice but, as I say, he was always very quiet."

Vanessa Waterhouse, 64, has lived on Milton Avenue for 33 years and worked at the Tesco in Clitheroe, which was targeted as part of the alleged bomb hoax campaign, until 1994.

She said: "I did not really have much to do with him but his wife was always very nice.

"I would often see them in passing and speak to her but it took him quite a while for him to engage with me when I tried to start a conversation."

But she was surprised when she heard about his arrest and added: "His children were always very approachable and friendly and would always speak to me."

Rose Campion, 57, who lives in nearby Waddington Road, said she knew Mr McHugh's wife and always found her to be "very pleasant."

But she said that McHugh was always "very quiet and withdrawn."

She added: "It is a shame really that something like this has may have gone on in Clitheroe.

"She was a very nice person but we never saw him much."

Another resident, who lived nearby and refused to be named, said: "No-one knew him really and I would just see him going to and from his car every now and again.

"You do not expect things like this to happen around here."

Previously, McHugh he had worked for the Shelter charity shop in Moor Lane, Clitheroe, where his former boss Amelia Cross remembered him as a "very quiet man".

She said: "I am really surprised that he has been arrested.

"It is a few years since I have seen Phil - he worked for me for about six months as a collector.

"I always knew him as a very quiet and polite chap.

"He was here when I started at the shop almost two years ago.

"He really just kept himself to himself."