Police 'not interested' when alerted to praying Manchester Arena bomber minutes before blast, inquiry hears

Anti-bootlegging officer says she alerted police to man ‘secreted away’ and praying

Police were “not very interested” when a security worker reported suspicions about Salman Abedi minutes before the Manchester Arena bombing, an inquiry has heard.

The probe is looking into claims that both security guards and police officers were alerted to the terrorist’s presence in the City Room linking the venue with Victoria railway station before the attack.

On Thursday, a woman who had been working in the area as part of an anti-bootlegging operation, told the inquiry how she noticed a man since identified as Abedi praying.

Julie Merchant said she did not believe him to be a terrorist at the time but thought it “worth mentioning” as he had “secreted himself away in an area he should not have been”.

Abedi hid for nearly an hour on the upstairs level of the City Room before the blast, in a CCTV blind spot that was only fixed two months ago.

Ms Merchant, who was monitoring merchandise sellers at the Ariana Grande concert, said she assumed he was travelling through from the nearby Victoria railway station on her first sighting of him on 22 May 2017.

But she said she learned he was praying upstairs and said she caught the attention of a female British Transport Police (BTP) officer who was patrolling with a colleague, half an hour before the blast.

“I was suspicious that he had secreted himself away,” Ms Merchant told the inquiry. “In that way it was a security issue ... because he was in an area he should not have been, an area that is all tucked away.”

Ms Merchant said she could not recall what she exactly said but believed she used the words “crank” and “praying”.

“I think I would have said 'Is that crankypants still there? Is that nutter there', or words to that effect,” she added. “It wasn't a very long conversation, I can't remember if she replied to me.

"They didn't seem that interested. None of us were suspicious of him and I think we were aware of being overtly un-PC."

The inquiry has previously heard the BTP constable Jessica Bullough, who will give evidence next week, does not recall anything of the conversation.

Ms Merchant said she had worked at the arena ”hundreds of times“ and had never seen anyone praying there in a public place.

Her supervisor, William Drysdale, said he too had not previously witnessed anyone praying at the venue but did so on the raised mezzanine level of the City Room at about 9.40pm.

He told the inquiry that he believed the behaviour was unusual but not suspicious.

Mr Drysdale said he noticed that Abedi’s rucksack was “so large that it was above his head”.

"As I looked a little bit longer I saw him rocking back and forward,” he added.

The inquiry previously heard that Abedi had made three reconnaissance trips to the City Room before launching the attack at 10.31pm that evening, as fans flooded out of the concert.

No concerns were raised by police or security guards during those visits, when he was not carrying his homemade suicide bomb.

The trial of his brother Hashem Abedi, who was jailed for life for his part in the plot, heard that Ariana Grande’s concert was deliberately targeted.

Sentencing him in August, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said he was satisfied that the brothers selected their target before Abedi left his family home in Libya days earlier.

The judge said Grande was “renowned” for her large following among children and teenagers, adding: “I am satisfied that it was their intention to specifically target this age group — an aim in which they tragically succeeded, as almost half of those killed in the explosion were either children or teenagers.”

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

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

Additional reporting by PA