Jailed terrorist who Manchester suicide bomber visited in UK prison months before his attack is refusing to help public inquiry into the bombings
- Abdalraouf Abdallah, 26, is declining to speak to lawyers, hearing told today
- Lawyers said his relationship with Salman Abedi was 'one of some significance'
- Inquiry aims to understand how Abedi became radicalised and why he attacked
A jailed terrorist who the Manchester suicide bomber visited in a UK prison months before his attack is refusing to help the public inquiry into the atrocity.
Abdalraouf Abdallah, 26, is declining to speak to lawyers for the inquiry who want to know about his links to the Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi, the hearing in Manchester was told today.
Abedi, 22, detonated a home-made shrapnel packed bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the arena on May 22 2017, killing 22 bystanders and injuring hundreds more.
Abdalraouf Abdallah, 26, is declining to speak to lawyers for the inquiry who want to know about his links to the Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi
Abedi, 22, detonated a home-made shrapnel packed bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the arena on May 22 2017, killing 22 bystanders and injuring hundreds more
Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: 'Salman Abedi's relationship with Abdalraouf Abdallah was one of some significance in the period prior to the bombing and we are determined to get to the bottom of it.'
He said Abdallah was refusing to co-operate, claiming legal privilege not to incriminate himself.
Mr Greaney added: 'We are continuing to pursue this line of inquiry.
'We hope on reflection he will co-operate, so will press for him to give evidence before the inquiry.'
Salman Abedi's remaining family, including father Ramadan, mother Samia and sister Jomana, who all live in Libya, have refused to co-operate as has younger brother Hashem Abedi, jailed for life last month for his part in the bomb plot.
Ismail Abedi, the eldest brother who lives in the UK, is also claiming legal privilege.
Mr Greaney said: 'This is most unhelpful and we hope Salman Abedi's family will reflect and understand they have a moral obligation to provide the information we require.'
He said the inquiry must try to understand how Abedi became radicalised and why he carried out this 'horrific act of violence'.
The inquiry was told Abdallah, jailed for nine years in 2016 for terror offences, had numerous telephone contacts from 2014 with Abedi who visited him at HMP Belmarsh and HMP Altcourse, Liverpool.
Abdallah, from Manchester, was left wheelchair-bound after he was shot and paralysed from the waist down while fighting in the Libyan uprising and returned to the UK for treatment.
In February 2017, three months before the bombing, prison authorities found he had an illicit phone and had tried to make calls to Abedi.
The inquiry also heard about Abedi's connection to Mansoor Al-Anezi, linked to Reilly who attempted a suicide bombing on a restaurant in Exeter in 2008.
Police scrambled to Manchester Arena in their droves after the shocking attack three years ago
Abedi was with Al-Anezi when he died from cancer in 2017 and property belonging to him was found at the Abedi home in south Manchester.
The links were a number of matters relating to how Abedi became radicalised, to be explored at the inquiry, Mr Greaney said.
They included his education, his friendships and associates and his religious community, including his attendance at Didsbury Mosque, the hearing was told.
At the trial of his younger brother Hashem Abedi earlier this year, jurors heard how the two changed, gave up education, wore traditional Islamic clothing and became more religious in the months and years before the bombing.
Earlier in the inquiry, it emerged a victim may have survived his injuries if he had not waited nearly an hour for medical treatment.
John Atkinson, 28, had a heart attack an hour and 17 minutes after the blast when he suffered blood loss from leg and abdominal wounds.
He only received treatment after he was carried to paramedics by members of the public on a makeshift stretcher made from advertising hoardings and a metal barrier.
Mr Atkinson was 'conscious and able to speak' when taken from the scene but died less than an hour later.
The inquiry has also been told the fire service had an 'inadequate and ineffective' response to the bombing.
Training exercises raised 'serious concerns' about how the fire service and police worked together ahead of the terror attack but lessons were not learned, the inquiry has heard.
On the night, the fire service decided to 'muster' at their station three miles from the scene.
Problems with communication and confusion over whether an 'active shooter' was at the arena meant fire engines, specialist equipment and stretchers did not arrive until two hours and six minutes after the explosion, by which time all the casualties had been evacuated.
John Atkinson, 28, (pictured) was caught in the blast carried out by suicide bomber Salman Abedi in the City Rooms, the foyer of the arena
In other development at the inquiry in Manchester today:
- The inquiry heard the harrowing final moments of the 22 people killed in the atrocity.
- Marcin Klis, 42, and his wife and Angelika, 39, were waiting to pick up their children, 'with their arms around one another'. The couple were just four metres away from the blast and suffered 'unsurvivable' injuries;
- Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, was asked by her friend what her favourite song was as they walked, but the 'explosion detonated before she could answer';
- Only one stretcher was brought to help with evacuations and police and public were forced to use cardboard and crowd control barriers to carry victims from the scene;
- An exercise called Winchester Accord was held in May 2016 at the Trafford Shopping complex showed up failings which mirrored the night of the attack;
- North West Fire Control was first notified at 10.34pm, three minutes after the bomb had gone off, that there had been an explosion and mass casualties and police were looking for a second device;
- They also received reports, wrongly, of an 'active shooter' and some casualties with gunshot wounds;
- But there appeared to be confusion about whether GMFRS should follow procedures based on the incident being an explosion or a terror bombing
Mr Atkinson, a health care assistant who worked with autistic adults, was at the concert because Ariana Grande was one of his favourite singers, the inquiry was told.
He received the tickets as a Christmas present and went with a lifelong friend called Gemma O'Donnell, who was also the sister of his partner, Michael.
Mr Atkinson was six metres away from Salman Abedi when he set off his suicide bomb in the City Room foyer of Manchester Arena at 10.31pm.
He managed to drag himself towards an exit called the 50 Pence staircase, where he was helped by a member of the public called Ronald Blake, who was among the first people to dial 999, seconds after the blast.
Mr Blake was talked through how to put a tourniquet on Mr Atkinson's leg using his belt, by the emergency call handler and he stayed with Mr Atkinson for 'just short of an hour' until he was treated by paramedics, Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquest, said.
Mr Atkinson was 'conscious and able to speak' at 11.17pm when he was lifted onto an advertising board and dragged out of the City Room by a number of people because there were no stretchers.
His rescuers were planning to take him down to the station concourse in the lift but they could not get him into it, the inquiry was told.
They managed to slide a metal barrier under the advertising hoarding and he was carried down to the station concourse at 11.25pm, ten minutes after he was taken out of the City Room.
Paramedics took his pulse at 11.34pm - just over an hour after the blast - when it was measured at 62 beats a minute, but at 11.48 he suffered a heart attack.
He was placed in an ambulance at 11.59pm and arrived at Manchester Royal Infirmary, 7 minutes later.
'Despite the efforts of those treating him, he was declared dead at 12.24am,' Mr Greaney said.
Mr Atkinson had sustained very severe leg injuries and abdominal injuries and suffered a cardiac arrest due to inadequate blood filling his circulatory system.
A panel of experts on blast injuries, instructed by the inquiry, said the injuries he suffered were 'potentially survivable.'
On the night, the fire service decided to 'muster' at their station three miles from the scene, and did not arrive at the arena until two hours and six minutes after the explosion. Pictured, emergency services at the scene
Salman Abedi was seen 'adjusting wiring' underneath his clothes in the moments leading up to the devastating terror attack which left 22 people dead on May 22, 2017
Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, (left) said the exercise 'raised serious concerns about the interaction between police commanders and their communications with other responding emergency services.' The public inquiry, chaired by Sir John Saunders (right) at Manchester Magistrates' Court, is looking at events before, during and after the suicide bombing by jihadist Salman Abedi at the end of an Ariana Grande concer
A post-mortem discovered that Mr Atkinson suffered from ischaemic heart disease and Dr Paul Rees, a surgeon commander in the Royal Navy and an expert in cardiology was instructed to investigate further.
His conclusions were said to be 'stark'.
'On the balance of probabilities, the heart condition did not contribute to blood loss, cardiac arrest or to the ability to successfully resuscitate John,' Mr Geaney said.
'In short, in the opinion of Dr Rees, the heart condition did not make any difference to whether or not John would have died.
'As we have said, survivability is therefore an issue of considerable importance in the case of John Atkinson.'
The inquiry was also told North West Fire Control was first notified at 10.34pm, three minutes after the bomb had gone off, that there had been an explosion and mass casualties and police were looking for a second device.
They also received reports, wrongly, of an 'active shooter' and some casualties with gunshot wounds.
But there appeared to be confusion about whether GMFRS should follow procedures based on the incident being an explosion or a terror bombing.
Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said Salman Abedi (left) 'blew himself up in the explosion but he intended as many people as possible would die with him.' Right: A CCTV image of Salman Abedi at Victoria Station making his way to the Manchester Arena, on May 22, 2017, where he detonated his bomb
Station manager Simon Berry, of GMFRS, was told a rendezvous point was arranged with police at Manchester Cathedral nearby, but this was rejected in favour of a different 'muster point' for just four fire engines at Philips Park fire station three miles away from the arena.
This decision would be 'critical' to the understanding of how the fire service was delayed so long in deploying to the arena, Mr Greaney said.
British Transport Police (BTP), who had declared a major incident within nine minutes of the blast, were calling the fire service asking how many fire engines had been deployed to the arena.
But North West Fire Control still believed there was an active shooter and people had been shot.
GMFRS also set up a command room at its own HQ in Salford, rather than gathering with the heads of the other emergency services at Greater Manchester Police HQ in east Manchester.
An expert report on GMFRS's response to the attack found it 'inadequate and ineffective' and said there was a lack of effective leadership, strategic direction and 'operational grip', though 'no single individual' was responsible for the failings.
The public inquiry, scheduled to last into next spring, was adjourned until Monday.
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