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FREE TO KILL
MANCHESTER bomber Salman Abedi was free to kill 22 people after MI5 let him slip through the net, a damning report has found.
The terrorist murdered innocent children and adults and left hundreds of others injured at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017.
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Abedi also died in the horrific attack, while his ISIS fanatic brother Hashem was later jailed for life for his "integral role" in the atrocity.
A third and final report following a two-and-a-half year judge-led investigation into the attack was released today.
It revealed how MI5 missed a "significant" opportunity to act over a key piece of intelligence that could have prevented the bombing.
The blunder was partly down to a failure by a security service officer to act swiftly enough, the report found.
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Chairman of the inquiry Sir John Saunders said: "It is not possible to reach any conclusion on the balance of probabilities or to any other evidential standard as to whether the attack would have been prevented.
"However, there was a realistic possibility that actionable intelligence could have been obtained which might have led to actions preventing the attack."
MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said he is "profoundly sorry" over the failings.
It comes after the report found the "principal missed opportunity" was identified as two pieces of intelligence received by MI5 in the months prior to the attack.
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These were not disclosed in the report or shared by spooks with counter-terror police in the North West.
The intelligence was assessed to relate to "non-nefarious activity or to non-terrorist criminal activity".
Had further steps been taken, Sir John said it would have "increased the overall prospect that the attack would have been prevented".
He added: "We cannot know what would have happened, but there is at least the material possibility that opportunities to intervene were missed."
Richard Scorer, principal lawyer at Slater and Gordon, who represents the 11 families, said the 226-page report was "deeply painful to read".
Some relatives appeared emotional as the chairman spoke of the "appalling" and "unnecessary" attack and were seen consoling each other.
The document also described Abedi as like "a Petri dish brimming with germs" after his parents fled to Libya in 2016.
This meant his radicalisation was driven by "noxious absences and malign presences" that allowed him to spiral further into Islamist extremism.
The report also found Abedi should have been put on the anti-terror Prevent programme in 2015 and 2016.
The homegrown terrorist was also flagged to MI5 on other occasions amid fears he was mixing with terror suspects.
A meeting to consider further investigation of the warped jihadi was scheduled for 31 May 2017- nine days after the bombing.
Abedi was instead able to carry out the deadliest terror attack in Britain since 7/7 undetected.
Sir John made a number of recommendations in the report, which is the third to be released following the inquiry.
He said despite MI5 having a "very difficult job", if security services make mistakes then they must be "identified and steps taken to put them right".
The other reports focused on the emergency service response, which Sir John was highly critical of, and security arrangements on the night of the bombing.
Parts of the inquiry were held in private as four MI5 officers and 10 counter-terrorism police detectives gave evidence behind closed doors.
Sir John said as a result of this, he was unable to "make the findings that I have been able to make".
Abedi and his brother spent months hatching the bloodbath.
The pair flew back to Libya when friends noticed signs they had been radicalised but just four days before the attack, Salman Abedi returned to Manchester.
Had the intelligence been acted on, his return to the UK could have been treated "extremely seriously", the report found.
Despite being on the radar of security agencies, he was able to assemble a homemade bomb, which he kept in a Nissan Micra in Manchester.
Had the concerns been taken more seriously, he may have been followed to the car as part of surveillance.
Instead, the Micra was found ten days after the attack parked in a block of flats.
Haunting CCTV caught him skulking around the arena at a Take That gig on a practice run.
Abedi was also caught in chilling CCTV images with a rucksack packed with thousands of nuts just 19 seconds before the deadly blast.
He had waited for around an hour in the Manchester Arena foyer before parents and children left the gig at 10.30pm.
One minute later, he detonated the bomb as 359 people stood in the City Room - with 19 declared dead at the scene.
The youngest victim, Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, suffered more than 70 external injuries, with 17 metal nuts in her body, and died from blood loss due to multiple injuries.
Among debris found after the blast were 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flanged nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from Abedi and his victims.
There were also screws recovered by investigators but they were so damaged they couldn't be counted.
Abedi's body was later found in four parts and he had to be identified by his DNA and fingerprints.
His brother was was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
Speaking to the inquiry, Sir John said he was unable to "obtain a complete picture" of the part their family played in their radicalisation as no relatives were willing to give evidence.
But he said his background and his parents' extremist views played a "significant part".
'They have blood on their hands' - families react to MI5 failings
Andrew Roussos' daughter Saffie-Rose was just eight when she died in the attack.
He told Sky News: "Salman Abedi should have been stopped before he got to that arena and that's MI5's job.
"They know the threat, they know what these people do and don't do, they know where to look and not to look, and they were more prepared than what Manchester was that night - so MI5, for me, have got blood on their hands."
Andrew added: "I want them to admit that with all the signs and what they knew about this family and Salman Abedi that they let it slip through the cracks, because they did."
In a further statement, he added: "Our beautiful little girl lost her life because of the failings of the security services and today's report acknowledges that MI5 might have prevented the bombing.
"We all heard the evidence and knew there were failings, but hearing how this tragedy might have been avoided is devastating for us all.
"This was a cataclysmic failure, and it is clear from all of the evidence we have heard about Abedi that there were many opportunities for the security services to have ensured the bombing never happened.
"In my view the fact that MI5 failed to stop him despite all of the red flags available demonstrates they are not fit to keep us safe and therefore not fit for purpose."
Addressing the authorities on behalf of families of the victims, Caroline Curry, whose 19-year-old son Liam died, said: "Shame on you all.
"We really hope lessons will be learnt this time."
Caroline also said the families want the failures fixed so there won't be "as many families going through the utter heartbreak we have had to endure for the last five years, nine months, one week and one day" if the unthinkable happens again.
"We can only hope that one day the whole truth will come out and others, including the fugitive brother and parents, face justice because we will never believe they were in this alone," she added.
"Forgiveness will never be an option for such evil intentions and those that played any part in the murder of our children will never ever get forgiveness, from top to bottom, MI5 to the associates of the attacker," Ms Curry continued.
"We will spend the rest of our lives trying to protect our boys because as we found out through this process, once you leave your home you are on your own."
While Martyn Hett's mum Figen Murray said today is "not the day for looking back" but about "moving forward".
She added: "Terrorism continues to plague our society and as a nation we need to be better prepared to deal with it.
"It seems terrorists are always a step or two ahead of us and we need to catch up fast."
Nicola Brook, from Broudie Jackson Canter, which represents five bereaved families, said: "It is disappointing that the families will never know the full truth of what happened."
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is "committed to working with MI5, policing and partners to study the recommendations".
She added: "Together we will do everything possible to prevent a repeat of this horrifying attack.”
While Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said: “Today we remember the 22 people who lost their lives in the Manchester Arena attack.
"Our thoughts are with their families, and all those whose lives were changed forever as a result of this appalling act of terror.
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“The Government, our security services and emergency services are wholly committed to learning the lessons of this unspeakable tragedy. We will do everything in our power to continue strengthening our country’s defences, and to keep the British people safe.
“I’m immensely grateful to all those who contributed their expertise, knowledge and experiences to the Inquiry, and to Sir John Saunders and his team for their thorough and meticulous work throughout the Inquiry.”
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