A lawsuit has been filed by hundreds of survivors of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing attack against the British government intelligence agency MI5, as stated by their lawyers.
Represented by three lead firms — Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon, and Broudie Jackson Canter — over 250 victims and family members of those killed have submitted a group claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an independent judicial body that hears complaints against Britain’s intelligence services.
The group statement mentioned, “As it is an ongoing legal matter, we are unable to provide any further details or comment further at this stage.”
Following an independent public inquiry’s findings a year ago that MI5 failed to act on crucial intelligence about the bomber, the lawsuit has been initiated.
This legal action against MI5 for failing to prevent a terror attack is unprecedented and likely to be complex legally and bureaucratically if accepted by the tribunal.
Holding security services accountable for failures is known to be challenging, as seen in the families of Sept. 11 terror attack victims struggling for information in a lawsuit against the Saudi Arabian government.
The attack in 2017 claimed 22 lives and injured hundreds, making it the deadliest terror attack in the United Kingdom in over a decade.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, carried out by Salman Abedi, who had recently returned to the U.K. from Libya.
MI5’s failure to act on key intelligence about Abedi was highlighted in the public inquiry report, stating it was a missed opportunity to prevent the attack.
MI5’s director, Ken McCallum, expressed regret for not obtaining crucial intelligence that could have prevented the attack, acknowledging the difficulty in gathering covert intelligence.
The lawsuit has been filed with the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which can assess culpability, issue orders, and award compensation related to complaints about the country’s security services.
No immediate comment was available from the Tribunal, and the Home Office referred to Mr. McCallum’s previous statement on the independent inquiry.
