Manchester Arena bombing: Salman Abedi's hostile reconnaissance missed on same night security staff tried to detain innocent man

Staff member says he did not see terrorist but that innocent man ‘stood out’ four days before attack

A Manchester Arena security guard tried to detain an innocent man who was wrongly feared to be carrying out terrorist reconnaissance on the same evening Salman Abedi examined his target, an inquiry has heard.

On 18 May 2017, four days before the bombing that killed 22 victims, Abedi visited the City Room linking the venue to Manchester Victoria station.

A public inquiry into the attack previously heard that he travelled there hours after arriving back in the UK from Libya, walking around the arena’s perimeter, spending time in different parts of the City Room and observing queues for a Take That concert.

Experts believe he used the trip to identify any CCTV blindspots and assess the flow of concert-goers.

On Monday, a security guard told the inquiry that he had not seen Abedi but identified another man as suspicious around half an hour after the would-be bomber left.

Jonathan Lavery, a Showsec employee and former police officer, said he attempted to detain another Asian man who was dressed in black and carrying a “bulging rucksack”.

He said the individual “stood out like a sore thumb” before the start of a Take That concert because he “did not fit the demographic” of the group’s fans.

Mr Lavery said the man, who was later found to have no connection to Abedi or the attack, had been acting furtively in the City Room and appeared to be filming people.

He thought the man may be carrying out reconnaissance for a terrorist attack or have a sexual motive, the inquiry was told.

The man managed to board a train from Manchester Victoria to Leeds unobstructed but was later ruled out by police of having any known terrorism links.

Mr Lavery, an operations executive at Showsec - which provides security for Manchester Arena - said he had been “profiling” the crowd in the foyer.

He was not working on the night of the bombing but on 19 May 2017, he emailed the firm's managing director to flag the incident and the man with the “bulging rucksack”.

He told inquiry chair Sir John Saunders that he “stood out like a sore thumb” but when asked if Abedi, who returned to the City Room for further hostile reconnaissance a day before the bombing, would have also stood out he replied: “I'm not 100 per cent sure, I didn't see him.”

The public inquiry has heard of “missed opportunities” in the hours leading up to the explosion, as Abedi was sighted dressed in black and bent over by the weight of his bomb - inside a large rucksack.

Both police and security workers received reports of suspicions from members of the public, and the probe is looking at how they were acted upon.

He arrived back at Manchester Victoria at 6.30pm on the evening of the bombing and visited the City Room, having a “brief conversation” with two Showsec security guards.

Abedi later left and arrived back at the arena a final time at 8.30pm, entering the City Room an hour before the bombing.

Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, previously said it would examine why the security guards alerted did not inform the control room in the 15 minutes before the bombing, after a member of the public reported a suspicious man with a backpack.

He said potential “missed opportunities” would be looked at, including a separate report about Abedi made to a police officer half an hour before the blast.

Sir John, a retired High Court judge, is leading the probe examining events before, during and after the attack.

Opening the inquiry, he said: “If I conclude things went wrong then I shall say so, but we are not looking for scapegoats. We are searching for the truth.”

In total, 22 victims were killed, 264 people were injured and 710 survivors have reported suffering from psychological trauma.

Additional reporting by PA