A man who raised concerns about Manchester Arena suicide bomber Salman Abedi was told by security, ‘Yeah, yeah, we have seen him. He’s fine,’ a public inquiry heard.
The steward was ‘really quite dismissive’ when the suspicious character was pointed out to him minutes before Abedi detonated a bomb which killed 22, it was said.
The exchange between a ‘concerned’ parent and the steward, Mohammed Agha, was witnessed by Tom McCallum, who had driven his step-daughter and her friend to Manchester for the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.
Mr McCallum said he was waiting for the concert to end when Christopher Wild came down from the mezzanine floor to alert Mr Agha to the suspicious man around 15 minutes before the attack.
Mr Wild has previously told the inquiry he was worried that Abedi had a large rucksack and could be about to ‘let a bomb off.’
Pictured: Suicide bomber Salman Abedi seen ‘adjusting wiring’ underneath his clothes in the moments before the attack on May 22, 2017
Mr McCallum, standing five feet away, recounted Mr Wild’s words to the security guard.
‘He said something along the lines of, “Have you seen the guy up there? He is totally out of it?” Words to that effect,’ Mr McCallum said.
‘I would say he was concerned, certainly enough for me to notice it and register it. Concern would be the overriding emotion.’
Nicholas de la Poer, counsel to the inquiry, asked the witness: ‘What was it the security guard said in reply?’
Mr McCallum said: ‘It was along the lines of, “Yeah, yeah, we have seen him. He’s fine”.
‘My overriding memory is, it was really quite dismissive – “Yes we have seen him, it’s OK”.’
He added: ‘My immediate thought was, it must be something security deal with all the time.
‘I presumed it was someone who was drunk, so I did not think any further of it.’
Tom McCallum said he was waiting for the concert to end when Christopher Wild (pictured) came down from the mezzanine floor to security to a suspicious man on the mezzanine floor
At 10.23pm, eight minutes before the explosion, Mr Agha spoke to his colleague Kyle Lawler, who then walked over to the steps leading up to the area where Abedi was sitting.
He appeared to use his radio but has said in a witness statement that he did not get through.
Mr Agha then left the City Room foyer to re-join another colleague, Robert Atkinson on the bridge leading down to Victoria Station.
Minutes later Abedi detonated his device, with Mr McCallum left ‘significantly injured’ and evacuated from the room in a wheelchair.
On Tuesday the inquiry heard from Mr Wild, who said he had noticed Abedi with a ‘massive’ rucksack and thought he looked ‘dodgy’ and his presence there ‘strange’.
He approached the bomber saying, ‘What have you got in the rucksack?’ then approached Mr Agha, but was ‘fobbed off’.
The hearing was told the profile of the crowd for the event was a ‘young fanatical audience’ with a 70 to 30 split of females to males.
Pictured: The 22 victims of the terror attack which took place during an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May 2017
Daniel Perry, who worked for Showsec from 2013 and was an operations executive, told the inquiry he had undergone online counter-terrorism training.
On the night of the bombing his role included ‘access control’ or manning doors to the Arena, queue management, searches and ‘profiling’ people.
Mr Perry said it was at the discretion of Showsec staff who was searched based on profiling.
Chairman of the inquiry Sir John Saunders asked the witness about searches, if anyone wearing a big coat, inappropriate for the weather, or ‘anyone having a rucksack, had to be checked?’
Mr Perry replied: ‘I would say so. I think it’s a rule and also in training that we receive.’
He said he was not aware of the ‘blind spot’ in CCTV coverage of the area of the mezzanine level of the City Room, outside the Arena, where Abedi was hiding after he carried out ‘hostile reconnaissance’ in planning the attack.
The inquiry was also shown a document titled Pre-Egress Check Sheet, saying one job was to check the ‘entire City Room’ before the crowd emerged.
But Mr Perry said the practice was not to check the mezzanine area of the foyer, but to focus on the route the public would take away from the Arena.
He said staff are told that if they see anybody suspicious, always to report it, if someone is seen ‘lingering around in an area’.
Mr Perry was blown off his feet and injured in the blast, and after assisting a colleague, helped to safely evacuate the crowd and away from the blast site.
The public inquiry, expected to end next spring, continues.