Police accused of ‘dragging their feet’ over Arena horror

GREATER Manchester Police came under fire at the public inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing over delays in supplying key reports about operational decision-making on the night of the atrocity.

Unless the situation is resolved, the inquiry’s start date of April 6 next year could be jeopardised, bereaved families were told at a preliminary hearing.

A barrister representing 12 of the families said the force ‘has to answer as to why it has dragged its feet’.

Stephen Howe, meanwhile, whose wife Alison lost her life in the attack, said after the hearing that GMP’s response was ‘diabolical’ more than two years on.

The chairman of the public inquiry was told ‘command and control’ statements had been requested in April from 12 organisations involved in the emergency response on May 22, 2017, and into the early hours of the following day.

It is understood they are witness statements from senior GMP individuals who held command and control roles. They were due to be submitted to the inquiry in August.

All have been received in full apart from GMP’s – despite the force having had months of notice, counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney QC said.

Paul Weatherby QC said: “Our clients desperately want to have confidence in GMP because of the central role they play, but also the central role they play in the criminal aspect and in assisting the inquiry.

“They want to have confidence, but the sorry tale Mr Greaney indicates is frankly not good enough.”

Mr Weatherby said the force was criticised after the Anthony Grainger Inquiry - which looked into GMP’s response to the shooting of an unarmed man in 2012 – over a ‘lack of candour’ and a ‘series of disclosure failures’.

The chairman of the inquiry, retired High Court judge Sir John Saunders, said GMP would face ‘extremely extensive criticism’ if the issue led to the date of the inquiry’s start being put back.

The next inquiry hearing has been scheduled for January 28.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, detonated a rucksack bomb in a foyer area of the Arena after an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people.

His brother, Hashem Abedi, from Fallowfield, but of Libyan heritage, pleaded not guilty in October to 22 counts of murder.

At The Old Bailey in London, he also denied a charge of attempted murder and another that he conspired with his brother to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

His trial is due to begin in January.