The families of 11 victims of the Manchester Arena Bombing tragedy have reacted to the third and final volume of the public inquiry into the attack on May 22, 2017. The inquiry concluded that there was 'a significant missed opportunity to take action' on the part of MI5 that might have prevented the murders at the Ariana Grande concert that tragic night.
Richard Scorer, principal lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who represented 11 of the families involved in the inquiry, said the failures highlighted in the report were 'unacceptable'.
One of two key pieces of intelligence about suicide bomber Salman Abedi - both of which weren't passed on to police by MI5 - 'gave rise to the real possibility of obtaining information that might have led to actions which prevented the attack', revealed the report today (Thursday, March 2).
Had investigations taken place, Abedi could have been stopped at Manchester Airport on his return to the UK from Libya just days before the bombing, or been followed to where the bomb was being kept.
Mr Scorer said on behalf of the families: "Today’s report has been deeply painful to read, but also eye opening. On the issue of the preventability of this attack, inevitably the report provides less information than we would have wanted. But it is now very clear that there was a failure to properly assess key intelligence about Salman Abedi; a failure to put it into proper context; and – most catastrophic of all - a delay in acting on it. As a result of these failures, at the very least, a real possibility of preventing this attack was lost. This is a devastating conclusion for us.
"The failures exposed in this report are unacceptable. The public are entitled to expect that information of national security importance will be acted on speedily, and – crucially - that the system will ensure that this happens. It MUST do so in the future. We note that Sir John will be making recommendations in his closed report. We trust that these recommendations will be acted on, and that Sir John will be vigilant in monitoring their implementation.
"We welcome the other conclusions and recommendations in this report. It is clear that Salman Abedi should have been referred to Prevent. It is clear that the education system needs to be more vigilant in picking up signs of radicalisation. It is clear that Didsbury mosque turned a blind eye to extremism in its midst. Sir John’s report today contains many lessons; we must heed every one of them and make the necessary changes urgently.
"On 22 May 2017, thousands of people left their homes to attend a concert at Manchester Arena. 22 of those would never return home. Those killed and injured in this murderous attack had every right to feel safe and protected, but as this Inquiry has demonstrated, they were failed at every level - before, during and after this horrific attack. Even now, some families feel let down by the government’s refusal to allow them to register their loved one’s death, which for some is a key part of the grieving process and which is now wrongly being denied to them.
"Finally we want to pay tribute to Sir John Saunders and the Inquiry Legal Team for their unwavering determination to uncover the truth. We thank the Inquiry Support Staff and the Resilience Hub for their support throughout. As this process now ends, we pay tribute to those who lost their lives. We also ask that our privacy is respected as we process the Inquiry’s findings."
Andrew Roussos, whose eight-year-old daughter Saffie-Rose was killed in the blast, said: “Our beautiful little girl lost her life because of the failings of the security services and today’s report acknowledges that MI5 might have prevented the bombing.
"We all heard the evidence and knew there were failings, but 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 Abedi that there were many opportunities for the security services to have ensured the bombing never happened. In my view 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.”
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