Six police officers probed over Arena bombing ‘failures’
SIX police officers are under investigation over the terror attack on Manchester Arena, it emerged yesterday.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is carrying out a probe into two Greater Manchester Police officers, while four members of British Transport Police are the subject of an internal inquiry overseen by the same watchdog.
Some of those under investigation received honours for their efforts when suicide bomber Salman Abedi murdered 22 people at the end of a concert by Ariana Grande in 2017.
The GMP officers being probed include Dale Sexton, a retired chief inspector who was responsible for frontline officers on the night.
He was awarded the Queen’s Policing Medal in 2018, presented the following year by Prince William.
But Mr Sexton was heavily criticised in a report from retired High Court judge Sir John Saunders for failing to share information with other emergency services.
Most critically he did not reveal that the foyer where the attack happened – and where the wounded and dying desperately needed medical attention – was safe within 19 minutes of the explosion.
Sir John said that decision ‘had consequences’, leading to the ‘ unduly cautious’ ambulance service sending just three paramedics to treat casualties.
The second volume of Sir John’s report into the atrocity, published on Thursday, was highly critical of emergency services and recommended 149 improvements. Mr Sexton was insufficiently trained in terrorist incident procedures and was quickly ‘overwhelmed’, Sir John said. The officer failed to declare a major incident – a ‘serious omission’ not corrected until 1am, two hours and 29 minutes after the explosion – and failed to tell other 999 agencies that terrorist incident procedures had been enacted.
He gave ‘conflicting evidence’ in the wake of the attack about why he failed to communicate with fire and ambulance commanders, saying he ‘forgot’, then claimed he deliberately chose not to declare information fearing they would view the situation as too risky to deploy.
Sir John said he didn’t believe Mr Sexton, an inspector at the time but who was later promoted, ‘set out to lie’, adding: ‘I consider that Inspector Sexton was overburdened on the night. He simply had too much to do.’
The IOPC’s investigation into Mr Sexton is believed to relate to inconsistencies in his accounts of his actions.
A second Greater Manchester Police officer is under IOPC investigation for ‘actions and decision-making’. The identity of the second officer is unknown but senior GMP officers were criticised in Sir John’s report.
Temporary superintendent Arif Nawaz was given a ‘silver commander’ role despite not knowing the force’s terror attack protocol. Chief Inspector Mark Dexter was praised for ‘doing what he could to make the emergency response work’ but had a ‘gap in training’ for terror attack procedures.
Assistant Chief Constable Deborah Ford ‘unacceptably’ failed to discuss which zones of the arena were safe and ‘should have taken a grip’ on other shortcomings, Sir John said.
Four British Transport Police officers have been under investigation since last year, over conduct before the attack.
An IOPC spokesman said: ‘Our independent investigation into the actions of a former Greater Manchester Police officer when providing information to a review and a series of debriefs following the Manchester Arena bombing is nearing completion.
‘We are also independently investigating a complaint regarding the actions and decision-making of another Greater Manchester Police officer on the night of the attack.
‘A third investigation, carried out by British Transport Police under the IOPC’s direction and control, is under way into complaints regarding the actions of four individuals.’