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Showsec errors 'did not contribute to bombing'

Showsec's barrister Jonathan Laidlaw QC has told the inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing that although security errors were made at the venue before it was attacked, they had not contributed to the bombing.

Laidlaw told a hearing the security firm had fallen short in some areas at the venue but had not been ‘complacent’, going on to say that there was ‘little doubt’ the bomb would have been detonated even with security intervention.

The hearing has previously been told two Showsec stewards, Mohammed Agha and Kyle Lawler, were made aware of attacker Salmab Abedi's suspicious behaviour in the minutes before the explosion but failed to report it to a supervisor or the control room. Laidlaw said if there were failures on the part of those stewards, ‘this cannot be attributed to a lack of appropriate training’.

Abedi went on to detonate a home-made device in the arena's City Room foyer as fans left an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds more.

Earlier in the hearing, Richard Horwell QC, representing Greater Manchester Police (GMP), accused arena operators SMG of not spending enough time or attention on security measures before the terror attack.

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