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Security 'fobbed off' Manchester bomber concerns

The inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing has heard how a man who spoke to Salman Abedi in the foyer of venue of the night of the attack and thought he could be a bomber said he was ‘fobbed off’ by a security steward.

Christopher Wild was at the arena with his partner Julie Whitley to pick up their 14-year-old daughter and her friend. Speaking to the inquiry, Wild said that he had seen a man with a rucksack, apparently hiding, on a mezzanine floor, which he deemed odd at an Ariana Grande concert.

He said he decided to speak to Abedi despite feeling ‘a bit bad in myself challenging him’, then following the short conversation approached a Showsec steward. He told the inquiry that ‘he said he already knew about him’ and that he maintained what he had said in his statement - that he felt ‘fobbed off’ and that it was ‘as if he had more important things to deal with’.

Ms Whitley, who was hurt in the explosion, said that after Wild had spoke to the security steward she was reassured the man must have been a ‘dodgy’ merchandiser, and put it out of her mind.

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