Bomber approaches with his deadly load in CCTV shown to arena attack jury
Old Bailey told two victims seriously injured by Salman Abedi in Manchester had also been hurt in IRA blasts
Forensic investigators recovered 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flange nuts, 663 plain nuts, metal screws and 11 fragments
A CCTV image showing the Manchester Arena attacker just seconds before detonating the bomb in the venue’s foyer was shown to jurors during his brother’s trial yesterday.
Stills of Salman Abedi arriving at Victoria Station on his way to the Manchester Arena, carrying a large Karrimor rucksack containing the homemade device which killed 22 people, were also shown to court.
In the footage, Abedi is seen standing among the crowd in the arena foyer 19 seconds before he launched the attack, which his brother Hashem, 22 is accused of helping him to plan.
The jury was also shown images of the shrapnel gathered by detectives investigating the blast.
Forensic investigators recovered 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flange nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from the deceased, survivors and the scene. Numerous pieces of yellow and black metal screws could not be counted due to the extent of the damage. Among Salman Abedi’s victims were two people who previously suffered horrific injuries in devastating IRA bombings.
Donna Currie, 51, who was waiting in the foyer for her daughter and friend, survived the attack but received multiple fractures to both legs and shrapnel wounds when Salman Abedi detonated his bomb.
The trial heard that she had previously sustained shrapnel injuries and experienced extensive psychological trauma when the IRA bombed Manchester city centre in 1996, injuring more than 200 people.
It also emerged that a 50-year-old woman who sustained life-threatening blast, burn and shrapnel wounds in the attack on the Ariana Grande concert had been caught up in the 1993 IRA bombing of Warrington town centre, when two children were killed.
The details emerged as the tally of those maimed and killed at Manchester Arena was outlined in court.
The Old Bailey was given details of the terrible shrapnel injuries suffered when Salman Abedi, detonated his rucksack bomb at 10.31pm on May 22 2017 in the arena foyer, which at the time was packed with 359 people, many of them children. Almost 1,000 suffered trauma while more than 200 were physically injured by the blast.
Hashem Abedi, formerly of Manchester, denies plotting to cause explosions, 22 counts of murder, and one of attempted murder.
The court heard that the youngest victim, Saffie-rose Roussos, eight, from Preston, had attended the concert with her mother Lisa, 48, and sister.
Officers and members of the public, including an off-duty nurse, rushed to help her, but she was pronounced dead in hospital just over an hour after the attack. Saffie-rose had more than 70 external injuries, and 17 metal nuts were found lodged in her body.
The oldest victim, Jane Tweddle, a 51-year-old school receptionist from Blackpool, died at the scene after a single metal nut hit her in the neck.
Megan Hurley, 15, from Liverpool, was walking across the foyer with her brother Bradley after the concert, trying to rejoin their parents, when the bomb exploded. Her father found her collapsed just minutes later and she was pronounced dead despite resuscitation attempts.
A post mortem examination found she had suffered 80 external injuries, including lacerations and burns, and widespread internal injuries.
The Old Bailey heard that Megan had 22 metal nuts in or on her body and the court heard it was “very likely” she died quickly.
Chloe Rutherford, 17, a student, and her boyfriend Liam Curry, 19, from South Shields, were both killed in the blast.
Liam sustained 60 penetrating injuries and had 51 metal nuts in his body and clothes, while Chloe suffered more than 100 external injuries and 45 nuts were found.
John Atkinson, 28, a support worker from Manchester, was initially found conscious and talking, but suffered a cardiac arrest at Manchester Royal Infirmary and died early the next day.
A post-mortem examination showed he had sustained very severe leg injuries as a result of penetration by multiple metal nuts. The court heard that of the 264 people physically injured, 28 suffered life-threatening or life-changing wounds.
A girl aged 10 suffered two broken legs as well as shrapnel wounds to the stomach and chest.
The trial continues.