The truth behind the story that Manchester attacker Salman Abedi was brought from Libya by a UK Navy ship

(PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

Reports that Britain rescued the man who would go on to launch the Manchester attack have caused anger among some elements of the far-right.

The top lines of the story are true: the UK Navy did take Salman Abedi from Libya back to the UK. But there is far more to it, as well, and certainly more to it than those who have seized upon it are suggesting.

The initial report, in the Daily Mail, told how the killer Salman Abedi was one of more than 100 people to board the HMS Enterprise in Tripoli in August 2014.

Three years later, Abedi would kill 22 people including seven children at an Ariana Grande concert with a homemade suicide vest.

The story has been seized upon by much of the far-right.

Nigel Farage, for instance, posted on Twitter that "Europe is committing suicide". Elements of the US far-right also shared the news.

Many of them suggested – either implicitly or explicitly – that the attack was the consequence of allowing refugees or immigrants into Europe and the UK by rescuing them from Libya. But in fact almost the exact opposite was true: Abedi and the people rescued with him were British citizens, being brought to their home not away from it.

Abedi had been on holiday and Libya was one of a number of people whose names were on a list of stranded citizens handed to the crew in charge of the evacuation. They were taken to Malta and then flown back to the UK.

The Mail's story did make clear that Abedi and the other people rescued with him were British citizens, and that the UK government had an obligation to look after him and any other people who might be stranded away from their country.

“He was a British citizen so it was our job to safeguard him," a quote attributed to a senior government source read. "Salman was one of many people in that mix and we absolutely had to evacuate him.

“He was not a threat at the time and it was in a very different context.”

A Government spokesman said: "During the deteriorating security situation in Libya in 2014, Border Force officials were deployed to assist with the evacuation of British nationals and their dependants."

Abedi was being monitored by security services when he travelled to Libya, but his case was closed a month before his rescue.

The Anderson review into the Manchester attack found that the decision to close Abedi's case as a "subject of interest" was sound, based on the information available to security services at the time.

Hashem Abedi is held in jail in Libya by a militia group, but the British Government has requested his extradition to face trial for his involvement in the attack.

The request has so far been refused.