Manchester Arena attacker's brother Hashem Abedi convicted of murder over 2017 bombing

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The brother of the Manchester Arena bomber who killed and maimed hundreds of people as they left an Ariana Grande concert is facing the rest of his life behind bars today (tues).

Hashem Abedi, 22, plotted with older brother Salman to detonate a homemade explosive packed with shrapnel in a crowded place, hoping to murder as many people as possible.

The extremist brothers bought huge amounts of chemicals online for their bomb, and met with a convicted ISIS terrorist as they plotted the atrocity.

Salman, 22, was the one who carried out the attack, blowing himself up in the foyer of the arena as concertgoers – including many young children – streamed for the exits and to meet their parents.

Hashem Abedi in the dock at the Old Bailey
PA

Twenty two people, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed in the attack on May 22, 2017, and around 1,000 concertgoers were left physically and mentally scarred.

Hashem Abedi was in Libya with his family when the bomb went off, but was today found guilty at the Old Bailey of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder, and a charge of conspiracy to cause explosions.

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker will consider imposing a whole life prison term on Abedi, who is now guilty of the deadliest terrorist attack on UK soil since the 7/7 London bombings.

The scene close to the Manchester Arena after the terror attack
PA

Schoolgirl Saffie Rose Roussos, 8, was the youngest victim to die in the attack, after an evening with her sister and mother Lisa watching her favourite popstar.

Her mother was also badly hurt in the blast and spent six weeks in a coma, waking up to the devastating news that her young daughter had not survived.

The other victims killed in the carnage were: off-duty police officer Elaine McIver, 43, schoolchildren Sorrell Leczkowski, Eilidh MacLeod, Nell Jones, all 14, Olivia Campbell-Hardy and Megan Hurley, both 15, student Georgina Callander, 18, Chloe Rutherford,17, and her boyfriend Liam Curry, 19, Courtney Boyle, 19, and her step-father Philip Tron, 32, John Atkinson, 26, Martyn Hett, 29, Kelly Brewster, 32, Angelika Klis, 39, Marcin Klis, 42, Michelle Kiss, 45, Alison Howe, 45, Lisa Lees, 43, Wendy Fawell, 50 and Jane Tweddle, 51.

Manchester Arena Terror Attack: Victims

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The Abedi brothers spent months concocting the mass murder plan, using the bank accounts and email addresses of their friends to purchase chemicals online while pretending they was for household use and car batteries.

They used their mother’s £550-a-week benefit payments, which she continued to receive after she left the UK for Libya, to buy tools and equipment, and Salman Abedi set up a ‘safe house’ in a remote part of Manchester as he finalised the plot.

The trial also heard how Salman Abedi had visited convicted terror plotter Abdalraouf Abdallah in prison four months before the bombing, and both brothers had been seen with the extremist before he had been locked up.

Abdallah, who was left paralysed after being shot during the 2011 Libyan uprising, had been caught sending money to his ISIS fighter brother, and he used his Manchester home as a ‘hub’ to pass on useful information for terrorists.

The scene close to the Manchester Arena after the terror attack
PA

A month before the concert bombing, the Abedi brother both flew back to Libya to be with their family, as friends noticed signs that both had become radicalised.

Salman alone flew back to the UK to make the final preparations for the attack, selecting the famous concert hall as the target on a night that it was packed with almost 15,000 people.

Hashem, who was extradited from Libya to face justice in the wake of the devastating attack, denied any knowledge of his brother’s plot, suggesting he too had been conned by Salman into believing the bomb parts were simply for household use.

But when the time came to explain himself, Hashem refused to give evidence at his trial, he stopped attending court, and sacked his legal team. He was absent from the dock today as the verdicts were delivered.

Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Hashem Abedi
PA Wire/PA Images

Abedi had been instrumental in buying a car to store the bomb, his fingerprints were found on improvised detonators and prototype explosive devices, and he and his brother had switched phones they were using at least ten times in the run-up to the bombing.

He had also used the phrase “we have come to slaughter” when setting up an email account to buy chemicals.

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough, who led the police investigation, said he was sure Salman had received “last minute inspiration” from his brother by phone hours before the attack.

“If you look at these two brothers, they are not kids caught in the headlights of something they don’t understand”, he said.

Salman Abedi after he got out of a taxi with his blue suitcase
PA

“These two men are the real deal, these are proper jihadis – you do not walk into a space like the Manchester Arena and kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that, taking 22 innocent lives with you, if you are not a proper jihadist.

“He was with his brother throughout the entire process of making this explosive and building this bomb, I believe he provided encouragement right up to the end.

“This was all about the sick ideology of Islamic State and this desire for martyrdom.”

Jurors deliberated for less than five hours before convicting Abedi unanimously on all charges.

Families of some of the victims were in court to hear the verdicts, breaking down in tears as the foreman answered ‘guilty’ repeatedly.

Victoria Higgins, from law firm Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of the bereaved families, said after the verdicts: “Families have waited a long time to see Hashem Abedi face justice for his crimes and I think the overwhelming emotion for most will be one of relief that he cannot hurt anyone else.

“It has been incredibly painful for them to hear, in detail, what happened to their loved ones and the calculated way in which the Abedi brothers plotted to end their lives.”

Abedi will now be held in custody until a sentencing hearing at a later date.

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