Manchester Arena attacker should have been identified as threat: public inquiry
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E-mail Xinhua, June 18, 2021
Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi should have been identified as a threat on the night of the attack by those in charge of security, a public inquiry into the May 2017 attack reported Thursday.
John Saunders, chairman of the inquiry, found there were "serious shortcomings" and a number of missed opportunities by those in charge of security to prevent the "devastating impact" of the bombing where 22 people were murdered and hundreds were injured at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
The first of three reports published by the public inquiry, which began in September 2020, has levelled criticism at British Transport Police (BTP), the arena operators SMG, and their contracted security providers Showsec.
Saunders said two teenage stewards did not react "as robustly and effectively as they should have" when a member of the public, Christopher Wild, raised his concerns about the bomber.
The inquiry also found there was no BTP officer present in the foyer and "no satisfactory explanation" for this, BTP officers bore personal responsibility for failing to follow clear instructions, and Salman Abedi hid in a CCTV blindspot which had existed for a number of years.
Meanwhile, the inquiry also criticised the counter terrorism training given to stewards and the inadequate risk assessments by SMG and Showsec.
Saunders told the Manchester Magistrates Court: "I have concluded that there were serious shortcomings in the security provided by those organisations which had responsibility for it and also failings and mistakes made by some individuals."
Manchester-born Salman Abedi, who was of Libyan descent, walked across the foyer of the arena and detonated the bomb on May 22, 2017. It was the worst terror attack in Britain since the London bombings in 2005 in which 52 people died.
According to the Guardian newspaper, his brother Hashem Abedi, who assisted him with the preparations, is now serving sentences of life imprisonment for offences including the murders of the 22 people.
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