A North East mum has told MI5 that they "all played a part in the murder of our children" at the Manchester Arena Bombing in May 2017. 

A public inquiry, published Thursday March 2, into the May 2017 atrocity found it might have been prevented if MI5 had acted more swiftly on a piece of intelligence received in the months before.

Two pieces of information about suicide bomber Salman Abedi were assessed at the time by the Security Service to not relate to terrorism - this was a "missed opportunity" to prevent the terror attack, which killed 22 and injured hundreds. 

The parents of Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, slammed the Security Service over their inaction. 

Read more: Looking back: tragedy at Manchester Arena sent shockwaves to North East 

Chloe and Liam, a teenage couple from South Shields, were among 22 people to die in the attack, which also killed Philip Tron, 32, and Courtney Boyle, 19, both from Gateshead.

Ms Curry said: “Those that played any part in the murder of our children will never, ever get forgiveness.

“From top to bottom, MI5 to the associates of the attacker, we will always believe you all played a part in the murder of our children.”

Years before the attack, the Security Service had assessed information about bomber Salman Abedi before the attack.

In March 2014, Abedi became a subject of interest (SOI) for MI5 over phone contact with another SOI, but his case was closed four months later when he was deemed “low risk”.

He was also identified on six occasions as a direct or indirect contact of suspected extremists from December 2013 to April 2017.

MI5 deemed this information not to not relate to terrorism.

Read more: Manchester Arena bombing ‘might have been prevented’, inquiry finds

But inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said – having heard from MI5 witnesses at the hearings into the bombing, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds – he considered that did not present an “accurate picture”.

The officer admitted they considered a possible pressing national security concern on one of the pieces of intelligence, but did not discuss it with colleagues straight away and did not write up a report on the same day.

In his 207-page report, Sir John said: “The delay in providing the report led to the missing of an opportunity to take a potentially important investigative action.

“Based on everything the Security Service knew or should have known, I am satisfied that such an investigative action would have been a proportionate and justified step to take. This should have happened.”

He said that if the intelligence had been followed up immediately it could have led to Abedi, 22, being followed to the parked Nissan Micra where he stored the explosive, and which he later moved to a rented city centre flat to assemble.

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The chairman added that Abedi also could have been stopped at Manchester Airport on his return from Libya four days before the attack.

Following Thursday’s publication of the report, bereaved families said they hoped “lessons would be learned”.

Two previous reports into the terror attack were issued by Sir John.

The first was in June 2021 and highlighted a string of “missed opportunities” at the Arena venue to identify Abedi as a threat before he walked across the City Room foyer and detonated his shrapnel-laden device.

Sir John’s second report last November delivered scathing criticism of the emergency services’ response to the bombing.

He ruled that care worker John Atkinson, 28, would probably have survived but for the failures on the night, while there was a “remote possibility” that Saffie-Rose Roussos could have lived, with different treatment and care.

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Following publication of his final report, Sir John said: “I can only hope that we achieve something by our efforts.

“That will only happen if those away from this inquiry can share in the desire of those who have taken part in it to make things better.

“Inevitably some of the changes that are needed will require money which is in short supply, but protecting the lives of the people of this country must be a high priority for any government.”