Hundreds of survivors and family members of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing are taking legal action against MI5 after claims they did not take action that could have prevented the attack.
22 people died and hundreds were injured when suicide bomber Salman Abedi set off a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
More than 250 people impacted by the attack have filed a group claim to The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which handles complaints against intelligence services.
Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon and Broudie Jackson Canter are the three lead firms representing the victims, in what is believed to be the first case of the MI5 being sued over its failure to stop a domestic terror attack.
In a statement released by the firms, they confirmed the legal action: ‘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 investigatory powers tribunal (IPT).
‘As it is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable or provide any further details, or comment further, at this stage.’
Last year an inquiry found the secret services could have prevented the attack if it acted on key intelligence received months before.
The chair of the inquiry, Sir John Saunders, said there was a ‘realistic possibility’ that investigators could have stopped the bombing had they acted more decisively on pieces of intelligence.
The father of eight-year-old Saffie Roussos, the youngest killed in the attack, has said the MI5 hold ‘most’ of the blame for him.
‘Everybody learns by hitting them hard in the pocket, I am sorry to say,’ he told Times Radio.
‘At 2017 we were at the highest alert and everybody was warned of an attack in this country, and MI5 – who, their sole job, they are well funded and well equipped – had 22 pieces of information about Salman Abedi.
‘So, if they would have learned lessons, they wouldn’t have allowed Abedi to walk into that arena. So, yes, MI5 have, for me, most of the blame.’
The inquiry also found the attackers’ return from Libya would have been taken ‘extremely seriously’ by the MI5 if key pieces of intelligence in the months leading up to the attack had been taken more seriously.
It found if an investigation into Abedi had begun earlier, MI5 could have found his homemade device, which was stored in a car in Manchester.
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