The former Mayor of Redbridge has hit out at police who battered down the door of his family home in a raid yesterday morning.

Cllr Muhammed Javed’s wife and son were asleep in the house in Dudley Road, Ilford, when around 20 riot police raided the house at 5.30am.

No arrests were made in the operation, which was connected to the murder of a woman in Ilford Lane.

Cllr Javed said: “I was next door and I came out and said I had the keys and could let them in but they said I wasn’t allowed.

“They broke the lock on the door and damaged the glass, it was shocking.

“I understand they need to make investigations but they didn’t need to send the army.

“You only see that stuff in the movies with people in big boots with weapons running in.”

Cllr Javed said they showed the family a picture of a man they wanted to trace in connection with Monday night’s murder.

“We said we’d never seen him and they left,” he added.

“If they wanted to do that they should have just knocked, the damage was unnecessary.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that a Territorial Support Group unit forced entry into the house but said it would be inappropriate to comment while the investigation is ongoing.