A government-backed public inquiry into what happened at the Manchester Arena terrorist bombing has concluded, as reported by The Guardian. The inquiry was led by Sir John Saunders who has concluded his findings with a 200-page summary. Saunders presented his findings to conclude that there were many ‘shortcomings’ in security on the day of the bombing.
The bombing occured on May 22, 2017 after an Ariana Grande concert when fans were leaving the venue. The report finds that several security personnel failed to take action when Abedi was spotted acting suspicious inside the venue. One member of security personnel wasn’t properly trained and another didn’t have a working walkie-talkie to alert his supervisors.
The findings also suggested that had security confronted Abedi earlier, less lives would’ve been lost. The report also states that there were four officers from the British Transport Police on duty, that were not on site even though they were meant to be. At the time of this bombing, Britain’s terrorist alert level was marked as ‘severe,’ meaning an attack could be imminent. Despite this, Saunders suggests that security was a little bit lax.
Saunders has stated that he doesn’t wish to blame any security parties, and that he hopes that security would be tighter in the future. The security company who was in charge of the Arena’s security that night, Showsec, has stated that they have included many new security enhancements, including a metal detector.
Salman Abedi, the bomber, died on the day of the attack. His brother Hashem was sentenced to 55 years in prison for his role in the bombings.
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