Racism concern deterred Arena bomber witness

A WOMAN who saw the Manchester Arena bomber praying minutes before his attack was concerned about appearing politically incorrect when reporting his behaviour to police, an inquiry has heard.

Julie Merchant, an antib o otl e ggi ng operative, noticed the man, now known to be suicide bomber Salman Abedi, with a large rucksack praying around 40 minutes before the 2017 atrocity that killed 22 people.

Her colleague, William Drysdale, also saw “a man in his 20s” with a large rucksack “kneeling down and moving” in the City Room, where concertgoers exit the arena hall.

Even though Mrs Merchant did not suspect Abedi was a terrorist, she still reported his behaviour to British Transport Pc Jessica Bullough, describing him as a “nutter” who is “over there praying”.

But Pc Bullough “did not do or say anything” and “just walked off ”, Mrs Merchant told the inquiry.

Footage played to the inquiry showed the brief interaction in which Mrs Merchant can be seen pointing in the direction of where Abedi was able to hide away from CCTV cameras for an hour in a blind spot.

Security experts believe he noticed the area was not covered by cameras after he carried out three “hostile reconnaissance” trips in the days before the attack.

Recalling the moment when she flagged Abedi’s presence to Pc Bullough – who received a bravery award after the attack – Mrs Merchant told the inquiry: “Even though I was not suspicious of him, what I was suspicious of was that he had secreted himself away and that she needed to know he was there.

“So in that way it was a security issue but I wasn’t aware of any feelings he could be a terrorist. He was in an area he shouldn’t have been.

“None of us were suspicious of him and I think we were aware of being overtly un-pc.” She added: “I didn’t want to appear overtly racist just because he was Muslim and praying.”

Mr Drysdale, who originally informed Mrs Mer

‘I didn’t want to appear overtly racist just because he was Muslim and praying’

chant that Abedi was praying in the City Room, told the inquiry: “As I turned to look at him and wonder what he was doing, I saw him go down and come back up and go down and come back up. I just thought he was praying.

“I did notice he had a big pack on his back. It covered quite a big chunk of his back. It was a large rucksack.”

The inquiry also heard that Pc Bullough was the most senior officer on patrol that evening despite being “relatively inexperienced”, with less than two years service in the police.