Workmen: It’s horrible to think suicide bomber walked past us

POLICE HAVE ASKED BUILDERS IF THEY SAW KILLER ON MORNNG OF ATTACK

WORKERS and students caught up in the police operation when a car was linked to Salman Abedi have told of their ordeal.

Greater Manchester Police blocked off dozens of streets near Banff Road in Rusholme last week as they tried to track Abedi’s final movements before his fatal attack on the Manchester Arena.

Officers had earlier identified a white Nissan Micra parked near Devell House, in Rusholme Place. Neighbouring streets were evacuated and sealed off, and the car was taken away.

Yesterday only a small area right outside the student flats remained cordoned off.

Steve Sumner and Andy Whitehead have been building a loft conversion in a student house in Rusholme Place for six weeks. The pair were caught in the thick of it as the GMP investigation zoned in on the street they have been working in.

Police asked both if they had seen Abedi dragging a blue suitcase on the day of the attack. Neither could be 100 per cent sure if they did.

Steve, from Worsley, said it is ‘horrible’ to think the Abedi could have walked past them on his way to the Arena.

He said: “They’ve got him on camera walking down here on the morning of the bombing. To think, he’s walked past us with the suitcase. They’re still trying to locate it, the suitcase. It’s horrible, knowing what we know now.”

On Friday, the builders were on site as police sealed off Rusholme Place at 1.30pm.

Steve and Andy admitted they feared the worst when police swooped on the white Micra.

“We were scared on Friday,” said Steve, who was worried there might be a bomb in the Nissan. Engineering student )Luqmer Fadzil “We thought, ‘If this goes off it could decimate us.’” The builders first arrived in Rusholme Place weeks before the bomb and have seen counter terror officers and the world’s media descend on the street. “It’s been mad,” said Steve. “We couldn’t believe it when we were told the guy [Abedi] walked past us that morning. We thought, ‘Oh my God.’”

The area appeared to be returning to normal yesterday. Students leaving Devell House were rushing off to final exams, with just one police van in a small cordon outside their block.

Engineering student Luqmen Fadzil lives in Rusholme Place and has been busy studying for his final exams.

On Friday, he had to abandon his house as police evacuated his street.