Fury as legal action against MI5 by Manchester Arena families blocked by judges

More than 300 people affected by the Manchester Arena bombing cannot continue their legal action against MI5, judges at a specialist tribunal have ruled.

Survivors and people bereaved by the 2017 terror attack brought a case to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) against the Security Services, claiming at a hearing earlier this month that the failure to take 'appropriate measures' to prevent the atrocity infringed their human rights.

But in a ruling on Friday, Lord Justice Singh and Mrs Justice Farbey said the cases could not proceed as they were brought too late.

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Lord Justice Singh said: “We are particularly conscious of the importance of the rights concerned… We are also conscious of the horrendous impact of the atrocity on the claimants and their families.

“Any reasonable person would have sympathy for them. The grief and trauma which they have suffered, particularly where young children were killed, is almost unimaginable. Nevertheless, we have reached the conclusion that, in all the circumstances, it would not be equitable to permit the claims to proceed."

The bombing after an Ariana Grande concert at the venue claimed 22 lives and left hundreds of others injured.

The IPT is an independent judicial body which provides right of redress to anyone who believes they have been the victim of unlawful action by a public authority using covert investigative techniques.

The public inquiry into the 2017 attack found the bombing might have been prevented if MI5 had acted on intelligence received in the months before when two pieces of information about the bomber, Salman Abedi, were assessed at the time by the security service to not relate to terrorism.

But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said, having heard from MI5 witnesses at behind-closed-door hearings, he considered that did not present an 'accurate picture'.

Following publication of the inquiry's final report last year, MI5's Director general Ken McCallum expressed 'deep regret' that intelligence was not gathered which may have stopped Abedi in his tracks, and said he was 'profoundly sorry' that MI5 was unable to prevent it.

Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon and Broudie Jackson Canter, three of the law firms representing people affected, said in a statement: “It is extremely disappointing for our clients to learn their claims against MI5 will not be able to progress further through the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.

"Ever since the attack in May 2017, our clients have had to endure continued delays but have done so with great patience and understanding in the hope that by allowing all legal processes to be fully explored, transparency and justice would be achieved. It took almost six years for the failings of MI5 to be revealed, confirmed when the Inquiry chair published his Volume 3 findings in March 2023, in which he said MI5 had missed a ‘significant opportunity’ to prevent the attack.

“This report concluded that within this six-year period, the Security Service corporate witnesses X and J gave evidence on oath that had presented an inaccurate picture, and the same inaccurate picture had been presented to Lord Anderson when he compiled his report in December 2017.

"Following these significant findings, our clients believed the IPT would provide the route to the formal vindication of their human rights.

"We are disappointed that time is one of the reasons now being used against them to prevent their claims progressing. Seven years have now passed since the atrocity in May 2017 – six years of that seven-year delay was caused by MI5.

"This judgment certainly doesn’t exonerate MI5. There were failings by MI5 and multiple other parties leading up to and on the actual evening of 22 May 2017 and collectively we continue to support our clients in their fight for full accountability and justice.”