NINE MISSED CHANCES COST 22 LIVES
Security blunders ‘failed victims on every level’
NINE security blunders allowed the ManchesterArena bomber to take 22 lives.
The victims were “failed on every level”, one grieving father said last night as the
inquiry report was published. Paul Hett – whose son Martyn, 29, died in the attack by Salman Abedi – said that it had been heartbreaking “to find that Martyn had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
He added that police, security staff and venue bosses had a duty of care to protect concert-goers that night. He said: “This inquiry has rightly found that we were failed by them on every level.
“This atrocity should and could have been prevented, and 22 people would not have lost their lives.”
The nine missed chances allowed black-clad Abedi to stroll in, hide, then re-emerge and detonate his rucksack device after Ariane Grande had finished singing.
Two teenage security guards failing to react “effectively” when a bystander warned them about the loitering terrorist was the “most striking” failure, said inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders.
Also patrolling police might have deterred Isis-inspired Abedi, 22, from mounting his attack but were absent on a two-hour kebab break.
As well as killing 22 people – the youngest was eight-year-old SaffieRose Roussos – the Manchesterborn bomber left 63 people seriously injured and a further 111 needing hospital treatment in the carnage that he triggered on May 22, 2017.
Errors
Sir John’s initial report highlighted nine deadly errors but he also backed a recommendation, known as Martyn’s Law, which would force all music and sporting venues to plan for such outrages.
Martyn Hett’s grieving mother Figen Murray said last night: “Venue security needs to be improved to help prevent further terror attacks. We should not have to live in fear, and I am determined to make this law a reality.”
Relatives of five of the murdered 22 sat in the inquiry room at Manchester magistrates court yesterday as former High Court judge Sir John spoke about the security failings. His report is the first of three findings from the Manchester Arena Public Inquiry and it ran to 204 pages.
The others – addressing the emergency services’ response and whether the bombing could have been prevented – will be delivered over the next year.
The country was left shellshocked when Abedi, who was of Libyan descent, crossed the Arena’s foyer as fans left after the concert and set off his bomb.
He had carried out “hostile reconnaissance” shortly after the venue doors were opened to the audience earlier night.
Abedi then hid for almost an hour in a mezzanine-level blind spot not covered by the Arena’s CCTV cameras before he returned to the foyer and set off the bomb he was carrying in his backpack.
Weighed down by the heavy rucksack, Abedi walked past two British Transport Police (BTP) support officers and two staff from event security firm Showsec. But the terrorist should have been identified as a threat earlier after a worried passer-by reported him as suspicious to two Showsec workers, the report found. Christopher Wild, the vigilant bystander, had been unable to find a BTP police officer to warn them after the two who should have been patrolling the foyer had driven several miles away for a kebab, on an unauthorised two-hour break. Giving evidence, Mr Wild said of Abedi: “He was keeping out of view and that’s another reason why I thought it was strange. “I started to think about things that have happened in the world and I just thought it could be very
dangerous.” Sir John found the two teenage stewards did not react “as robustly and effectively as they should have” when the concerns were raised – and he labelled this “the most striking missed opportunity” of the nine blunders.
He said: “Had [they reacted] I consider it likely Abedi would still have detonated his device, but the loss of life and injury is highly likely to have been less.”
Sir John said of the lack of BTP patrols: “The mere presence may have deterred Salman Abedi from mounting any attack.” He added that had the Arena’s camera system been “properly monitored, there would have been heightened sensitivity to Abedi’s presence”.
He also criticised the security plans at the city centre venue with both Arena’s operators SMG, subcontractors Showsec and British Transport Police, plus staff of all three, responsible for missing chances to prevent the carnage.
Sir John continued in his report: “I am satisfied there were a number of missed opportunities to alter the course of what happened that night. More should have been done.” On the night of the bombing the national terror threat was classed as severe, meaning that a terrorist attack was highly likely.
Sir John said: “Everybody concerned with security at the arena should have been doing their job in the knowledge a terrorist attack might occur.They weren’t.”
Wicked
He called the attack “wicked”, and “inspired by the distorted ideology of the so-called Islamic State.
“It was designed to attack our way of life and freedoms we enjoy. We cannot allow fear of further terrorist attacks to achieve that.”
Acknowledging acts of bravery “by those who came to the assistance of the dying”, he went on to say: “Many of those rescuers bear the scars of what they experienced.
“None of those affected will forget that night and nor must we.
“The audience was principally made up of young people. Salman Abedi killed himself in the explosion, but he intended that as many people as possible would die.” Last night SMG bosses said they would “continuously challenge ourselves to be better”, adding that although experts “did not see evidence the security operation at Manchester Arena was out of step” with elsewhere, “this doesn’t give us any comfort.
“Our guests came to...enjoy a show but were met with a horrific tragedy.We are truly sorry.”
British Transport Police had responsibility for patrolling the Arena as it is attached to a train station. Lucy D’Orsi, the force’s current Chief Constable, said they were “reviewing procedures”.
Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said his force had improved its service.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said the Government continued “to take action in response” to terrorism and had launched a consultation on Martyn’s Law.
Abedi’s brother Hashem, now 23, was jailed for a minimum of 55 years for planning the bombing.