Hashem Abedi refuses to attend court hearing

Hashem Abedi, who was convicted of mass murder for his role in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, yesterday refused to be present at the sentencing hearing as victims’ relatives told of their loss.

The 23-year-old, the younger brother of the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, refused to appear for his sentencing hearing although he was said to be in the Old Bailey building.

Some of the family members of the 22 people killed in the bombing explained to the court how the loss of their loved ones had devastated their lives.

In March, Hashem Abedi was found guilty by a jury of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. He was found to have helped his brother to order, collect and store materials for the deadly plot at the Ariana Grande concert.

The defendant, who went to Libya the month before the bombing, was arrested hours after the attack and was extradited back to Britain last summer.

The judge told the hearing on 19 August that Abedi could not be handed a whole life sentence because he was under the age of 21 at the time of the offences. He could, however, be given multiple life sentences with a minimum term starting point of 30 years.

A public inquiry into the bombing is scheduled to start in September 2020.