The first stage of a lawsuit being taken against MI5 by victims of the Manchester Arena bombing is set to be heard within the next fortnight, the Manchester Evening News can reveal.
It comes amid claims that the security agency is trying to 'block' the legal action being brought by survivors and the families of those killed in the 2017 atrocity.
The public inquiry into the attack 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. READ MORE: The Manchester Arena bomb conspiracy theorist who spouted 'false allegations' for 'commercial gain' Last Spring, 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, and said he was “profoundly sorry” that MI5 was unable to prevent it.
Lawyers representing more than 250 people caught up in a terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert have submitted a claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT).
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk