Writing in this week’s NLJ, Slater and Gordon’s Richard Scorer, head of public inquiries, and Shane Smith, solicitor, assess the reports of the public inquiry into the 2017 bombing. Slater and Gordon acts for 11 of the families of those killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.
With nearly 300 witnesses giving evidence and more than a million pages of material to consider, the inquiry published three reports, the final one published in March 2023.
Scorer and Smith look at some of the ‘missed opportunities’ highlighted in the three reports, such as CCTV blindspots, as well as failures in the emergency response, such as poor communications, and a failure within MI5 to act swiftly on crucial intelligence. Devastatingly, the inquiry found a ‘realistic possibility’ MI5 could have thwarted the plot had it acted more decisively on two pieces of evidence. The next stage, as the authors write, is to ensure the inquiry’s recommendations are implemented.
