Manchester bomber looked ‘a bit odd’ before lethal blast

A woman who was knocked to the ground when Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi detonated the weapon told an inquiry he was “looking a bit odd” in the moments before the explosion.

Sarah Nellist was waiting to collect her teenage daughter and six-year-old niece from the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in north-west England on May 22, 2017, when Abedi set off the bomb, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more.

Ms Nellist was one of the first survivors to give evidence.

The inquiry is examining the circumstances of the attack and whether any opportunities to prevent it were missed.

It was established by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in October.

Yesterday, Ms Nellist told the hearing that security guards were not searching everyone’s bags.

She said she was waiting by the box office when she saw Abedi.

“He just looked a bit odd,” she said. “There were mums and dads there. I thought maybe he was there for his sister and he didn’t want to be there. It was a couple of minutes [before the bomb exploded].”

She said there was no warning and she saw the explosion out of the corner of her eye.

“He detonated the bomb, it was like black powder paint. It was just like a high-pitched sound and the heat was just unbelievable,” she said.

The explosion knocked her out. When she regained consciousness she looked for her daughter and niece and was reunited with them outside.

The inquiry previously heard that only one paramedic reached the City Room, the scene of the blast, within 40 minutes. That paramedic followed a police vehicle to the scene on his own initiative.

Abedi, 22, was killed after detonating a bomb in rucksack in a foyer of the arena at the end of the concert.

His younger brother, Hashem Abedi, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years last year after he was convicted of 22 murders, one count of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to cause an explosion.