MI5 boss says sorry again over failure to stop' Arena bombing

THE boss of MI5 has reiterated an apology he issued to the families of the Manchester Arena terror attack as they pursue a legal claim over a failure to act on intelligence which may have pre-1 vented the bombing.

- JOHN SCHEERHOUT

In March last year, the agency's director general Ken McCallum expressed 'deep regret' that intelligence was not gathered which may have stopped suicide bomber Salman Abedi in his tracks. He said he was 'profoundly sorry' that MI5 was unable to prevent the 2017 attack which killed 22 people and left hundreds more injured.

He spoke out after a public inquiry found the bombing might have been prevented if MI5 had acted on intelligence received in the months before the attack when two pieces of information about Abedi were assessed at the time by the security service to not relate to terrorism.

But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders, having heard from MIS witnesses during secret hearings, rejected suggestions that the intelligence pointed to non-terror-related activity. He said this did not present an 'accurate picture! The father of the youngest person to die in the bombing has previously said MI5 took 'most of the blame' and that he intends to sue it. Other agencies were also criticised by the inquiry.