Sharon de Oliveira’s story was especially shocking: “You have a family at the centre of your story being killed in a drone attack,” she said. After the hearing, it was reported that Oliveira lived in an apartment in East London where she had lived for a decade with her family; the report also revealed that a person with a similar name also lived in London, living in a similar building to her. Another witness, John Henson, recalled an intense atmosphere of fear and mistrust after seeing a drone on Thursday in East London. “I’ve never really seen anything like it,” he said of the flight over the east London community of Silloth, near where he grew up. Henson said residents of his housing trust were alarmed to have had a drone fly over their buildings and in their residential areas.

Khalil Muhammad Hossain, left, is a resident of the Silloth housing trust but still lives with his mother in the same house at the same address.

HOSSAIN: She said she had been frightened to the point of tears. It’s like being under assault, you know? I’ve been living there for over ten years and it’s the worst thing ever. They could have just hit her with a missile they could of course, but they did not. They did not kill us. This is my home, I’ve lived here 20 years. It’s like someone attacked me. They could of course have struck someone with a nuclear weapon but it would not give them the excuse to kill my mother. She is just a housewife. Not like they could of course have killed her with nuclear power. We’re not against nuclear power — nuclear or otherwise — but we don’t like being attacked with this thing. It’s like something out of a horror movie.

PAUL: But the question is, how did it come to be here? The drone?

KHALIL MUHAMMAD HOSSAIN, 43: Yeah, that’s what our neighbour thinks.

PAUL: How did it come here?

HAMID: Well, they’ve come here from North Africa, Jordan.

Tareq Hussain is another resident.

TAREEQ HUSSEIN, 35: I had a lot of problems before. I think if anybody would have asked me two before it was this drone, I wouldn’t have gone and fought with it. You know,