Furious families of Manchester Arena bombing victims to sue MI5 after inquiry heard security service received TWO vital pieces of intelligence on terrorist Salman Abedi – just months before deadly attack that claimed 22 lives

• Two months before attack, MI5 failed to act on alert about bomber Salman Abedi
• Youngest victim’s father said it could not be ‘business as usual’ after report
• Read more: Victims’ families slams ‘cataclysmic failure’ after damning MI5 report

The families of the Manchester Arena bombing victims intend to sue MI5 over a catalogue of failures, including a missed ‘significant opportunity’ to stop the attacker days before the deadly atrocity.

Last week, an official inquiry told how MI5 had Arena bomber Salman Abedi on its radar from 2010, but regarded him as low priority.

However, in the months before the attack – which killed 22 victims, mainly children – MI5 received two vital pieces of intelligence on Abedi, which it failed to act upon quickly.

Had it done so, its spies may have stopped the attack by watching him more closely.

Andrew Roussos, whose daughter Saffie-Rose, eight, was the youngest victim, said it could not be ‘business as usual’ for MI5 after the inquiry’s final report came out last week.

Saffie-Rose Roussos was the youngest person to die in the Manchester Arena bombing

Her father Andrew said it could not be ‘business as usual’ for MI5 after the inquiry’s final report came out last week

After it was highly critical of MI5, its Director-General, Ken McCallum, apologised to the victims’ families.

Mr Roussos said: ‘I would like to sue MI5 and I know other families feel the same way. I can’t see why not. If they get sued it will make sure it is not business as usual.

‘I have said from day one that I blame MI5 – the country’s Security Service. But now there is clear evidence that they messed up, and there has to be a price to pay. They need to feel responsible.’

He said four law firms were considering how best to sue MI5, adding: ‘Taking civil action is the only way to make sure they have a real incentive to learn lessons.’

Caroline Curry, whose son Liam, 19, died at the concert with his girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, 17, also wants to sue MI5 for negligence.

She said: ‘It sometimes feels MI5 are untouchable, and I feel it would make sure they do the right thing in future. Others feel the same.’

Speaking after the final report of the inquiry was published on Thursday, an angry Ms Curry said: ‘From top to bottom, MI5 to the associates of the attacker, we will always believe you all played a part in the murder of our children.

‘Forgiveness will never be an option for such evil intentions, and those that played any part in the murder of our children will never, ever get forgiveness. Shame on you all.’ Thursday’s report looked specifically at Abedi’s radicalisation, what MI5 and counter-terror police knew about him and whether they could have prevented the bombing by acting on intelligence they had.

After it was highly critical of MI5, its Director-General, Ken McCallum, apologised to the victims’ families

Abedi, 22, blew himself up at the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017. Mr Roussos said investigations into the 7/7 attack on the London Underground in July 2005, which killed 52 people, also revealed failures by MI5, which had its ringleader, Mohammed Siddique Khan, under surveillance 17 months beforehand. He believes similar mistakes were made in Manchester.

Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders revealed last week that MI5 received information about Abedi on 20 occasions between 2010 and the days leading up to the attack in May 2017. It came from Abedi’s contacts with known extremists.

But MI5 did not investigate him closely. Crucially, Sir John said MI5 received two significant pieces of information of national security concern about Abedi in the months before his attack when he was amassing bomb material.

But the two pieces of intelligence – which Sir John could not reveal – were not acted upon by MI5 quickly enough.

Abedi, 22, blew himself up at the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017 – killing 22 people

Abedi was in Libya for a month and returned to Britain four days before the attack. Sir John believes it was in Libya that he was trained how to make a bomb and even brought back a detonator switch.

Had MI5 acted on the two pieces of intelligence, he would have been searched on re-entering the UK, and officers would have tailed him, which would have led them to a car full of bomb-making materials.

Sir John said there was a ‘realistic possibility’ that ‘actionable intelligence’ could have been obtained that might have prevented the attack, adding: ‘The reasons for this significant missed opportunity included a failure by a Security Service officer to act swiftly.’

The Home Office declined to comment on the proposed lawsuit.

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