Manchester Arena bombing survivors launch legal action against MI5

Hundreds of survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing have launched legal action against MI5 over claims it failed to take action to stop the attack. 

An official inquiry held last year heard how MI5 had terrorist Salman Abedi on its radar from 2010 but regarded him as low priority.

Then in the months before the attack – which killed 22 people, including children – MI5 received two vital pieces of intelligence on Abedi, which it failed to act upon quickly.

Now legal teams representing more than 250 survivors say they have submitted a group claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) - an independent judicial body that people who feel they have been the victim of unlawful action by a public authority can appeal to.

Director-general of MI5 Ken McCallum said in March 2023 that he was 'profundly sorry' that MI5 did not stop the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert. 

READ MORE: Furious families of Manchester Arena bombing victims to sue MI5 after inquiry heard security service received TWO vital pieces of intelligence on terrorist Salman Abedi - just months before deadly attack that claimed 22 lives

He added: '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.'

The action against MI5 is being led by three legal firms - Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon and Broudie Jackson Canter. 

In a joint statement they confirmed that they had submitted a claim to the IPT on behalf of more than 250 clients but were unable to provide any further comment at this stage.  

Relatives of the victims have already criticised MI5's catalogue of failures regarding the attack. 

Andrew Roussos, whose daughter Saffie-Rose, eight, was the youngest victim, said it could not be 'business as usual' for MI5 after the findings of the inquiry in 2023. 

Mr Roussos added at the time: 'I would like to sue MI5 and I know other families feel the same way. I can't see why not. If they get sued it will make sure it is not business as usual.

'I have said from day one that I blame MI5 – the country's Security Service. But now there is clear evidence that they messed up, and there has to be a price to pay. They need to feel responsible.'

Caroline Curry, whose son Liam, 19, died at the concert with his girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, 17, also said she wanted to sue MI5 for negligence.

She said: 'It sometimes feels MI5 are untouchable, and I feel it would make sure they do the right thing in future. Others feel the same.'

Abedi, 22, blew himself up at the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders explained that MI5 received information about Abedi on 20 occasions between 2010 and the days leading up to the attack in May 2017. It came from Abedi's contacts with known extremists.

But MI5 did not investigate him closely. Crucially, Sir John said MI5 received two significant pieces of information of national security concern about Abedi in the months before his attack when he was amassing bomb material.

But the two pieces of intelligence – which Sir John could not reveal – were not acted upon by MI5 quickly enough.

Abedi was in Libya for a month and returned to Britain four days before the attack.

Sir John believes it was in Libya that he was trained how to make a bomb and even brought back a detonator switch.

Had MI5 acted on the two pieces of intelligence, he would have been searched on re-entering the UK, and officers would have tailed him, which would have led them to a car full of bomb-making materials.

Sir John said there was a 'realistic possibility' that 'actionable intelligence' could have been obtained that might have prevented the attack, adding: 'The reasons for this significant missed opportunity included a failure by a Security Service officer to act swiftly.'