{"id":229222,"date":"2024-04-14T15:10:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T15:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=229222"},"modified":"2024-04-14T15:10:25","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T15:10:25","slug":"manchester-arena-attack-survivors-and-relatives-take-legal-action-against-mi5-manchester-arena-att","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/manchester-arena-attack-survivors-and-relatives-take-legal-action-against-mi5-manchester-arena-att\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester Arena attack survivors and relatives take legal action against MI5 | Manchester Arena att…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hundreds of the Manchester<\/a> Arena bombing survivors, along with relatives of the victims, have launched legal action against MI5, claiming it failed to take action that could have stopped the attack.<\/p>\n

More than 250 people have joined the group action against MI5<\/a>, and have submitted their claim to the investigatory powers tribunal, which hears complaints against intelligence services.<\/p>\n

The claim rests upon article 2 of the Human Rights Act, which protects the right to life. It is believed to be the first time MI5 has been sued over its failure to stop a domestic terror attack.<\/p>\n

A statement on behalf of Hudgell Solicitors, Slater and Gordon, and Broudie Jackson Canter, the three lead firms representing the group, said: \u201cLegal 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).<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable or provide any further details, or comment further, at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The security service\u2019s director general, Ken McCallum, previously issued a public apology over the failure to stop the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, whom MI5 had received intelligence about in the run-up to the atrocity.<\/p>\n

An inquiry into the attack, which left 22 people dead and hundreds injured, concluded that MI5 missed a \u201csignificant opportunity\u201d to prevent the bombing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The inquiry\u2019s chair, Sir John Saunders, said there was a \u201crealistic possibility\u201d investigators could have stopped the bombing if they had acted more decisively on two key pieces of intelligence, but it was \u201cquite impossible\u201d to say definitively whether any different action would have prevented the blast.<\/p>\n

Andrew Roussos, the father of eight-year-old Saffie Roussos, who was the youngest of those killed in the attack, previously said suing MI5 was the \u201conly way to learn\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody learns by hitting them hard in the pocket, I am sorry to say,\u201d he told Times Radio. \u201cAt 2017 we were at the highest alert and everybody was warned of an attack in this country, and MI5 \u2013 who, their sole job, they are well funded and well equipped \u2013 had 22 pieces of information about Salman Abedi.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if they would have learned lessons, they wouldn\u2019t have allowed Abedi to walk into that arena. So, yes, MI5 have, for me, most of the blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abedi detonated a homemade bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017, as hundreds of people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert, in the deadliest terror attack in Britain since the 7 July 2005 bombings in London.<\/p>\n

He had packed the bomb with metal nuts and bolts that left many of the survivors, mostly children and young people, with serious injuries.<\/p>\n

The inquiry into the attack, which concluded last year, found that Abedi\u2019s return from Libya four days before the blast would have been taken \u201cextremely seriously\u201d by MI5 had key pieces of intelligence been taken more seriously in the preceding months .<\/p>\n

It also found that the agency could have discovered Abedi\u2019s homemade device, stored in a car in Manchester, if an investigation had begun earlier.<\/p>\n

Roussos said: \u201cSalman Abedi should not have made it to that arena that night. There were too many missed opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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