Manchester Arena ~ Inquest Pre-Hearings

On the evening of Monday 22^nd May, at 22.33 hrs BST, a bomb was detonated in the foyer of the Manchester Arena – BBC News 23^rd May.   22 people were killed and over 100 injured (many seriously) – BBC News 27^th May.   The bomb was detonated as people were leaving the Arena following a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.

The attacker was identified by police as Salman Ramadan Abedi – (see BBC 26^th May) - a 22-year-old Briton of Libyan ancestry who detonated a shrapnel-laden improvised explosive device at one of the exits as concertgoers were leaving.  Abedi was born in Manchester in 1994, grew up in the Whalley Range area and lived in Fallowfield.  It appears that he was known to British Security Services but was not regarded as high risk – The Guardian 23^rd May. 

A number of individuals were arrested
at the time of the bombing but no charges were brought - BBC News 10 October 2018. 

On 22 July 2019,  Hashem Abedi, the brother of Salman Abedi, appeared via videolink before the Crown Court at Oxford.  He is charged with 22 counts of murder at the Manchester Arena, one count of attempted murder encompassing all the other Manchester Arena victims, and one count of conspiring with his brother to cause explosions. - The Guardian 22 July 2019.

Preparation is under way for inquests into the Manchester Arena deaths - see Manchester Arena Inquests Website.  The inquests are being conducted by retired High Court Judge Sir John Saunders.   The inquests have appointed a legal team headed by Paul Greaney QC. 

A pre-inquest hearing was held in October 2018.  At the time it was reported that relatives of those killed in the bombing have been “very anxious” about attending the inquests after receiving threats - The Guardian 18 October 2018.

On 28 February 2019 a number of directions were given by the Coroner.  This included a direction concerning Public Interest Immunity (PII) -

On Monday 29 July a Pre-Inquest Hearing was held at Manchester Town Hall. It is reported that - "Lawyers representing the families of the Manchester Arena attack victims have "embarrassing" evidence highlighting the "shortcomings" of the security services" - BBC News 29 July 2019.  John Cooper QC - representing various families, told the pre-inquest hearing that "full transparency" was required at the inquests into the deaths of the 22 people killed.  He asked the coroner not to confuse "national security" with "national or personal embarrassment."

The inquests are due to begin in April.

Legal aid:

It appears that families of victims are struggling to obtain legal aid for representation at the inquests - The Guardian 29 July.   Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquest, warned that some of the bereaved had not yet obtained legal aid - “We understand that certain bereaved families are encountering difficulties in obtaining funding for representation for the inquests from the Legal Aid Agency. They have now been working without funding for a considerable period of time. The amount of work required of them has been substantial and will only increase.”

As a general rule, legal aid is NOT available for representation at inquests. In March 2019, the Ministry of Justice published a report of a review into the availability of legal aid.  It is a report which offers little comfort to those who seek to change what is, frankly, a national shame.  Official bodies - e.g. government, Police - are invariably represented and often by leading counsel.  The report nevertheless noted -

"The Government recognises that families might require early legal advice and assistance. In the legal aid scheme this is known as ‘legal help’ and public funding for bereaved family members is available for inquests into all types of deaths, subject to means and merits tests. Solicitors providing early legal advice may carry out a range of advice and assistance tasks covered under legal help.

The Government also acknowledges that for certain types of inquests, families may require additional support in the form of representation at the inquest hearing itself.  Legal aid for representation may be available in these cases via the Exceptional Case Funding scheme (ECF). The ECF scheme is in place to provide legal aid for representation at inquests, subject to means and merits tests, where there would be a breach or a risk of a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or an enforceable EU law right if legal aid was not made available; or where conditions are met for a ‘wider public interest determination’.

Interestingly, it is report by The Guardian that Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court (which also houses the Coroner's Court) is to be altered to "create a venue large enough to hear the inquests, with two further courtrooms used to relay proceedings to family members and the public."  It is always remarkable that money is available for such work when legal aid for families is hard to obtain.  The Hillsborough Inquests were held at a specially constructed courtroom in Warrington - (pictured).

Courtroom at Warrington

Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation:

Annex 2 of a report by Max Hill QC - then the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation - sets out material from an earlier report by David Anderson QC which looked at the personal life, police history and MI5 history of Salman Abedi.

Earlier post:

The Manchester Arena Atrocity May 2017