Abedi brothers’ DNA was found at bomb-making flat
Murder trial told there is a ‘one in a million chance’ profile didn’t belong to hashem abedi
THE DNA of Hashem Abedi was found at an apartment where explosives were made and in an old Nissan Micra in which bomb-making equipment was transported and stored, his murder trial was told.
The DNA profile – which an expert witness said there was a ‘one-in-a-million chance’ belonged to someone other than Hashem or his brother Salman - was found on bedding, curtains and a sleeping bag dumped in a bin room at an apartment block in Blackley. It was also found on a bathroom door-handle at a terraced house in
Rusholme said to have been used as a delivery address for chemicals and on items found in the Micra alleged to have been used to transport and store bomb-equipment, jurors were told.
Although his DNA wasn’t found at a city centre apartment where the final device was said to have been assembled, his fingerprints were found on six metal cylinders dumped in the basement and alleged to have been prototype detonators for the device, jurors were told.
Salman Abedi killed himself and 22 others, and maimed dozens more, when he detonated an improvised explosive device in his backpack as concert-goers were leaving Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017.
His brother, Hashem, denies helping his brother source chemicals and shrapnel for a bomb.
The prosecution say the pair used contacts to obtain ‘precursor chemicals’ for making deadly TATP explosives which was said to have been manufactured at a 12th floor flat at Somerton House in Blackley up until April 2017 when, it is alleged, they left the property in a hurry and stored bomb-related material in an old Nissan Micra.
The car was parked up in Rusholme and the brothers flew to Libya, the jurors have heard.
Salman Abedi returned alone in May 2017, assembled the device in a plush third floor flat he had rented at Granby House in Manchester and detonated it at the Arena, according to the prosecution.
As Salman’s brother’s trial resumed at the Old Bailey in London, forensic scientist Geraldine Davidson told the jury that the defendant’s DNA was found at Somerton Court, at an address in Lindum Street in Rusholme alleged to have been set up to receive deliveries of bomb-making chemicals and in the Micra which was found a week after the bombing parked up in Rusholme.
Traces of TATP were found in the boot and on the rear and driver’s seats while chemicals, nails and screws were also found on board, the court has heard.
Ms Davidson, who analysed 450 items, told the jurors DNA of both Hashem and Salman Abedi were found on items recovered from Somerton Court, adding that there is only one-ina-million chance it wasn’t theirs.
Hashem Abedi, 22, from Fallowfield, denies 22 counts of murder, one charge of attempted murder concerning those who were hurt but survived and a charge that he conspired with Salman Abedi to cause an explosion.
● proceeding