‘We have come to slaughter’
COURT TOLD OF TRANSLATION OF EMAIL ADDRESS FOUND AT BOMB SUSPECT’S HOME
AN email address in Arabic which translates as ‘we have come to slaughter’ was found on torn pieces of paper in a bin at the home of Manchester Arena bombing suspect Hashem Abedi during the investigation which followed the explosion, a murder trial jury was told.
His older brother, Salman Abedi, detonated a bomb in his backpack just as concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande concert at the venue on May 22, 2017.
Some 22 people were killed including men, women, teenagers and a child, and another 63 were seriously injured, while hundreds of others were also hurt or suffered psychological trauma.
On the fourth day of the trial at the Old Bailey in London, the jurors were told about the defendant’s alleged efforts to use acquaintances to source the chemicals required to make the deadly TATP explosive which was at the heart of the Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Hashem Abedi, who worked as a delivery driver at the Golden Tandoori in Manchester city centre, and his brother Salman were said to have used the addresses and email accounts of associates to source 16 litres of sulphuric acid and 55 litres of hydrogen peroxide via Amazon.
The explosive was produced at a 12th floor flat at Somerton Court in Blackley before Salman Abedi assembled the IED, packed with screws and nuts to act as shrapnel, at an apartment at Granby Row in central Manchester, according to the prosecution.
The jurors were told that one email account ‘bedab7jeana@gmail.com’ was set up at 3.03pm on March 20, 2017. It was created via free public wifi at Hulme Market in south Manchester, the court was told. Duncan Penny QC, prosecuting, said that around the time the email address was created, the data for a number attributed to Hashem Abedi suggested the phone was in the vicinity of the market at the time.
Some ten minutes after the account was created, a Toyota Aygo purchased by Hashem Abedi in January 2017 was captured on Princess Parkway by ANPR cameras close to Hulme Market, the court heard.
Mr Penny told the jury that later, when the Abedi family home on Elsmore Road in Fallowfield was searched following the explosion, the same email address was found on torn-up pieces of paper in a bin at the property.
The jurors were shown an image of the paper which had been put back together so they could see the hand-written email address in full.
The QC said the ‘literal translation’ of ‘bedab7jeana’ is ‘to slaughter we have come’ or ‘we have come to slaughter.’
Some 13 days later this email address was provided to Amazon for the purchase of 30 litres of hydrogen peroxide, the court heard.
On May 17, Salman Abedi rented the apartment in Granby Row where he assembled the IED, say the prosecution.
The next day he walked to the Arena and CCTV images shown to the jurors revealed him walking along Chapel Street, along the foot of the steps up to the venue itself and then in the City Room inside the premises - the same spot where he was to detonate the bomb days later.
One image showed him walking by a queue of people at a ticket kiosk.
Hashem Ramadan Abedi, 22, from Fallowfield, denies 22 counts of murder. He also denies a charge of attempted murder, concerning those who were injured but survived, and another that he conspired with his brother Salman to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. Proceeding.