Manchester Arena survivors sue MI5 for failure to stop bomber
Hundreds of Manchester Arena terrorist attack survivors are suing MI5 for an alleged failure to take action that could have stopped the bombing.
The group of more than 250 victims and their loved ones have submitted their claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which considers complaints against the intelligence services.
The legal action revealed in The Sunday Times is the first of its kind to be taken against MI5 for an alleged failure to stop a domestic terror attack.
The newspaper reported that complainants are arguing that officers’ negligence breached the injured survivors’ “right to life” under the Human Rights Act.
In a joint statement Hudgell Solicitors, Slater and Gordon, and Broudie Jackson Canter, the three lead firms representing the group, said: “Legal teams representing injured survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 can confirm that they have collectively submitted a group claim on behalf of more than 250 clients to the IPT.
“As it is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable [to] provide any further details, or comment further, at this stage.”
In the attack in May 2017, Salman Abedi murdered 22 people by detonating a homemade bomb in the foyer at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
Hundreds more were seriously injured, mostly children and young people. Abedi had packed metal nuts and bolts into his bomb.
In 2019 a judge-led inquiry found that MI5 had missed a “significant” opportunity to take action that might have prevented the bombing.
Its chairman Sir Jonathan Saunders concluded: “There was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could have been obtained which might have led to actions preventing the attack.”
Andrew Roussos, whose eight-year-old daughter Saffie was the youngest victim of the attack, has previously said that suing MI5 was the “only way” the security services would learn.
Speaking to Times Radio last year Mr Roussos said: “It’s the only way to learn, everybody learns by hitting them hard in the pocket, I am sorry to say.”
