Today marks the release of the third and final report from the public inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing.
The report will focus on whether MI5 and counter-terror police could have prevented the suicide attack by Salman Abedi, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.
The inquiry, which took place in Manchester from September 7, 2020, to February 15, 2022, also examined Abedi’s radicalisation and the attack’s planning and preparation.
Abedi, a 22-year-old of Libyan descent born in Manchester, had become a Subject of Interest (SOI) for MI5 in March 2014 over phone contact with another SOI. However, his case was closed four months later when he was deemed “low risk.”
The inquiry heard that Abedi had direct contact with three SOIs between December 2013 and January 2017 – one suspected of planning travel to Syria, one with links to al-Qaida, and the third with links to Libyan extremists.
Between April 2016 and April 2017, he was also identified as a second-level contact with three more SOIs with suspected links to the so-called Islamic State terror group.
In the months before the attack, MI5 received two pieces of intelligence about Abedi. Still, they were assessed at the time to relate to possible non-terrorist criminality and were not passed on to the police.
A later review found that both pieces of information could be seen in retrospect to have been highly relevant to the planned attack.
During the inquiry, MI5 witnesses and detectives from North West Counter Terrorism Police gave evidence behind closed doors to avoid compromising national security and the inner workings of MI5 and counter-terror police.
The first inquiry report, issued in June 2021, focused on security arrangements at the venue and highlighted a string of “missed opportunities” to identify Abedi as a threat before the attack. The second report, released in November 2021, delivered a scathing criticism of the emergency services’ response to the bombing.
The third report, to be released today, will contain Sir John Saunders’ findings and recommendations on radicalisation and preventability. It will be sent to Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
»Manchester Arena bombing: Report of public inquiry is released«
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