A report in the Sunday Times today claims that MI5 is trying to shut down a legal action from victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack over its failure to act on intelligence that could have helped prevent the bombing.
The first hearing on the Manchester victims’ case is set for November 5.
The report says that the legal team is arguing that the claim should be thrown out by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal because it was lodged more than 12 months after the attack
However Victims’ families argue that because evidence of missed intelligence emerged only during the inquiry into the attack, which published its final report in March 2023
The solicitors representing the victims say that MI5’s actions fell short of their requirements under the Human Rights Act. Article 2 of the act states the government is required to take reasonable steps to protect the “right to life” of its citizens.
Twenty two people died and hundreds were injured when terrorist Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Arianna Grande concert in May 2017
MI5’s testimony to the Manchester Arena terror attack inquiry was described as “sanitised and redacted to the point of being useless”
The judge-led Manchester Arena inquiry, set up in 2019, found that MI5 had missed a “significant” opportunity to take action that might have prevented the bombing. “ and there was was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could have been obtained which might have led to actions preventing the attack,”
