'SPIES' IN SUBURBIA

3 in custody after arrests during counter-terror raids...They are all charged with having fake identity papers

- MATTHEW YOUNG

NEIGHBOURS knew them as Max and Kate, a pleasant couple who would always say hello and sometimes pop in with pies or cakes and chat about their holidays in the Med.

He worked as a hospital driver and she was a laboratory assistant with a private healthcare company.

But residents in the London suburb of Harrow were shocked to learn Max and Kate were actually Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, now suspected of being Russian spies.

Simon Carsini, who owns Gino's Cafe near the couple's last address, a flat in Harrow, said they were regulars who liked a full English for £6.50.

He said: "I just spoke to my chef about them and he said he recognised them, that they would come in here and order a Super Breakfast and four toasts and sit in the window. Harrow is a very multicultural place where anybody could fit in and have a very normal life."

The couple have been charged with fellow Bulgarian national, Orlin Roussev, 45, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, with possessing fake identity papers.

It is alleged all three were working for the Russian security services. The documents include passports, ID cards and other documents for the UK, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, and the Czech Republic.

They were among five people arrested in February by counter terrorism detectives. Dzhambazov, Ivanova and Roussev were charged under the Identity Documents Act and appeared at the Old Bailey on July 31. The other two people were released under investigation.