The 22 Manchester Arena bomb victims would be alive today but for MI5 blunders
THE 22 Manchester Arena bomb victims would be alive today but for security blunders, an inquiry found yesterday.
Families slammed MI5 for letting terrorist Salman Abedi slip through the net.
The head of MI5 last night gave a grovelling apology for blunders that let the Manchester Arena bomber slip through the net and murder 22 innocents as young as eight.
Spy chief Ken McCallum said he was “profoundly sorry” his spooks did not act to stop Islamic fanatic Abedi.
In an unprecedented televised statement, he added: “MI5 exists to stop atrocities.
“To all those whose lives were forever changed on that awful night: I am so sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack.”
Abedi detonated a backpack bomb stuffed with Mother of Satan explosives as fans left an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
A damning public inquiry yesterday found MI5 missed a significant opportunity to prevent the attack.
On a dark day for the security service, Mr McCallum admitted: “I deeply regret that such intelligence was not obtained.”
He pledged to “engage fully” with the inquiry’s findings.
Dad Andrew Roussos, who lost eight-year-old daughter Saffie-Rose, said MI5 had blood on its hands.
The devastating inquiry found MI5 had failed to stop and quiz Abedi, 22, on his return from Libya just four days before the blast.
The bomber had ties to IS and Al-Qaeda, and had fought alongside Islamic fanatics in Libya. But despite being on MI5’s radar, Abedi was still able to build a bomb.
Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders pointed to two key pieces of intelligence passed to MI5.
Neither was revealed publicly yesterday to protect national security.
But Sir John said that had spooks investigated them, Abedi’s return to the UK four days before the bombing would have been taken extremely seriously.
He would likely have been stopped at an airport, where a switch for his device might have been found.
And tracking him might have led spooks to a Nissan Micra, bought and parked in Rusholme, Manchester, where he kept his bomb.
Sir John said: “I find that, in the event that Security Service officers had successfully followed Abedi…the attack might have been prevented.”
In another bungle, an officer ruled one piece of intelligence a “pressing national security concern” but did not write a report the same day.
Sir John found: “In the context of national security, if there is a need to do something it is usually necessary to do it promptly.”
In his statement, Mr McCallum said: “My thoughts are with the families and friends of those killed, and with all those whose lives were changed by this appalling act of terrorism.
“Having examined all the evidence, the Chair of the Inquiry has found that ‘there was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could have been obtained which might have led to actions preventing the attack’.
“I deeply regret that such intelligence was not obtained.
“Gathering covert intelligence is difficult. But had we managed to seize the slim chance we had, those impacted might not have experienced such appalling loss and trauma. I am profoundly sorry that MI5 did not prevent the attack.”
At the time of the bombing, Abedi was one of MI5’s 20,000 subjects of interest.
But he should have been processed as a “low-level lead”, meaning a joint investigation with police.
Sir John added: “We cannot know what would have happened, but there is at least the material possibility that opportunities to intervene were missed.”
He detailed other blunders by MI5 and counter-terrorism cops, including failing to share Abedi’s swapping 1,300 texts with terrorist Abdalraouf Abdallah.
Eleven phone calls with Abdallah — still serving time for recruiting for IS — were missed between January and February 2017.
And Abedi was never referred to the Prevent deradicalisation programme, despite his terror links.
Sir John said MI5 was too focused on Syria, failing to look into Abedi’s frequent trips to Libya.
Four MI5 witnesses and ten police officers gave evidence to the inquiry in secret.
Abedi’s brother Hashem got life in prison with a minimum term of 55 years for helping in the plot.
Sir John shamed the family for their part in the atrocity.
The terror pair’s parents Ramadan Abedi and Samia Tabbal fled war-torn Libya in 1993 and settled in Fallowfield, Manchester, and had six children.
Five years later, Ramadan was granted indefinite leave to remain and became a UK citizen in 2007.
Between 2008 and the 2017 attack, Abedi’s parents moved back and forth between the UK and Libya — regularly leaving their children with eldest son Ismail for months at a time.
The inquiry heard the younger brothers regularly missed school and fell under the spell of their dad’s associates who all held an “Islamist extremist worldview”.
Sir John said: “Salman Abedi had almost no close connections or friendships that would tie him to law-abiding society.”
He said the wider family held “significant responsibility” for the boys’ radicalisation, and it was probable they obtained training or assistance in how to build a bomb in Libya, as well as counter- surveillance training.
Islamic extremism expert Dr Matthew Wilkinson told the inquiry it was “highly likely” the brothers fed off each other’s ideas.
He said of Abedi’s network: “I have never seen such a complete picture of the Petri dish brimming with germs.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said vital lessons must be learned “to prevent a repeat of this horrifying attack”.
TIMELINE OF TERRORISTS
JAN 31 1994: Salman Abedi born in Manchester after parents flee Libya.
2014: He starts a business and management degree at Salford University.
JAN 2017: Abedi walks out of a uni exam and never returns. He starts ordering components for terror plot.
APRIL 15 2017: He and brother Hashem fly to Libya.
MAY 18 2017: Salman returns to Manchester alone and begins preparing bomb.
MAY 21 2017: He goes on dummy run to MEN Arena.
MAY 22 2017: He detonates suicide bomb at MEN Arena, killing 22 and injuring 940 after Ariana Grande gig.
MAY 23 2017: Hashem Abedi is detained in Libya.
JULY 17 2019: He is extradited to the UK.
AUG 2020: He is sentenced to life with minimum of 55 years after being convicted of 22 murders in connection with the bomb attack.
SEPT 7 2020: Manchester Arena inquiry hearings start.
MARCH 2 2023: Third and final report published.
‘Our little girl lost her life because of failings of the security services’
THE distraught father of the youngest Manchester Arena bomb victim yesterday blamed security services for her death — branding them “not fit to keep us safe”.
Eight-year-old Saffie-Rose Roussos suffered 103 injuries in the blast as she left with mum Lisa and big sister Ashlee.
But parents Andrew and Lisa, above, believe she would have survived if the emergency service response was better.
In a statement issued by law firm Broudie Jackson Canter, Andrew said: “Our beautiful little girl lost her life because of the failings of the security services.
“Hearing how this tragedy might have been avoided is devastating for us all.
“This was a cataclysmic failure, and it is clear from all of the evidence we have heard about Salman Abedi that there were many opportunities for the security services to have ensured the bombing never happened.
“The fact that MI5 failed to stop him despite all of the red flags available demonstrates they are not fit to keep us safe and therefore not fit for purpose.”
Saffie, of Leyland, Lancs, was conscious when she was carried out on an advertising hoarding 26 minutes after the blast. She died in hospital from blood loss an hour and nine minutes later.
Families of other victims also spoke out after spending five hours privately digesting the 226-page report.
Fighting back tears, Caroline Curry — whose son Liam, 19, died along with 17-year-old girlfriend Chloe Rutherford — said: “All we have asked for from day one is the truth, acknowldgement of failures, and a determination to make sure that failures are fixed.”