Bombing families hit out at ‘failings’
FAMILIES of the Manchester Arena bombing victims yesterday urged MI5 not to “fail us again” after claims the atrocity could have been prevented.
The inquiry into the attack, which killed 22 people, heard bomber Salman Abedi could have been stopped if he had been questioned by counter-terrorism police days before the attack.
Abedi and his brother Hashem travelled to Libya on a one-way ticket in April 2017, and left bomb components in a parked car near a contact’s flat.
Salman flew back into the UK alone on May 18, 2017 – four days before he launched the suicide bombing – but was not stopped on his return to Manchester Airport.
John Cooper QC said on behalf of some of the families: “From the limited information we have been able to see, hear and read, it seems clear to us, the families of those who were
killed, that there have been significant failings by MI5 that need to be addressed.”
Referring to some evidence being heard in private, he said: “We are not able to be part of the closed session but we urge you, on behalf of those that were murdered on that night, to fully co-operate with the inquiry in those closed sessions.To be humble, accountable and fully open with the inquiry legal team. Do not fail us again.”
An MI5 officer who can be named only as Witness J admitted that police could have apprehended the terrorist under terror laws, questioned him and seized his electronic devices.
Sir John Saunders, the chairman of the inquiry, said he would decide on whether there were any failings.