‘MI5 can’t be trusted’ say Manchester Arena families

Families affected by the Manchester Arena bombing have said MI5 failed them and must be more open to scrutiny.

In a letter sent to the Prime Minister seen by the BBC, the families demanded the security service be fully included in a new law designed to stop cover-ups in public life.

The inquiry into the bombing found it could have been stopped if MI5 had acted on key intelligence in the months before the attack.

“How many times must MI5 show that it cannot be trusted before something is done?” the letter read, according to the BBC.

The inquiry heard that two pieces of information about suicide bomber Salman Abedi were assessed at the time by the security service to not relate to terrorism.

But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said having heard from MI5 witnesses at the hearings into the May 2017 atrocity – that killed 22 people and injured hundreds – he considered that did not present an “accurate picture”.

Barrister Pete Weatherby KC, who is director of the Hillsborough Law Now campaign, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday that the security service should not be given a “free hand to run a false narrative to protect themselves”.

He said: “If this law is passed and they’re required to tell the truth even when things go wrong, then failures can be rectified and people can be safer in the future.”

Campaigners understand that some evidence cannot be aired in public because of national security, he told the broadcaster.

“There are current laws which govern that which we’re not seeking to change through these provisions,” Mr Weatherby said.

“What we’re saying is, whether the evidence is given in open or it’s given in closed hearings, it must be the truth, or indeed, if it’s not given in evidence at all, but it’s told to the families or the public in general.

“MI5 shouldn’t be given a free hand to run a false narrative to protect themselves, rather than to advance truth and justice.”

Sir Keir has introduced a so-called Hillsborough Law in Parliament – the Public Office (Accountability) Bill – which will force public officials, and contractors, to tell the truth in the aftermath of disasters, and to investigate bodies.

Suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people by detonating a homemade rucksack bomb in a suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert at the venue in May 2017.

His brother Hashem Abedi, who was convicted of assisting with the terror plot, was jailed for life with a record-breaking 55-year minimum term in August 2020.

In December, a judge ruled that almost £20 million is to be paid out to children injured in the bombing.

Amounts ranging from £11.4 million to £2,770 were agreed at a hearing at the Manchester Civil Courts of Justice for 16 victims, all aged under 16 at the time of the attack, with the total amount to be paid coming to £19,928,150.

Some suffered “catastrophic” and life-changing injuries, while others suffered psychological damage from witnessing the carnage.