themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--Brothers in evil: How Hashem Abedi helped his suicide bomber sibling

When Salman Abedi detonated that huge bomb in his backpack as exhilarated kids and teenagers were leaving a pop concert at Manchester Arena , he wasn ’ t alone .
As he inflicted the most horrific single crime our city has witnessed , his cowardly , hate-filled younger brother Hashem Abedi was awaiting news 2,000 miles away in Libya .
Only Salman Abedi detonated the device , causing the blast that sent 3,000 pieces of shrapnel , flying like bullets across the foyer , killing 22 and maiming dozens more .
But Hashem was there in spirit - and he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for an unfathomable crime visited upon innocent people .
Hashem didn ’ t flick the switch , nor could he hear the dull groans of pain of those who had survived the blast .
But Salman , who was decapitated by the force of the blast , couldn ’ t have committed the mass-murder/suicide without him .
The suicide bomber looked to his younger brother as his munitions expert , quartermaster , driver and confidante .
Hashem Abedi , college drop-out , takeaway delivery driver and petty thief , was this year convicted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to murder those who survived the blast ; and conspiracy to cause an explosion .
Today , he was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 55 years .
He will be in his 70s before he will even be considered for parole .
The case ’ s senior investigating officer , Det Chf Supt Simon Barraclough , said : “ He ’ s every bit as responsible as his brother Salman .
“ The fact that he was in Libya when that bomb was detonated , for me , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his brother throughout the entire process of making this explosive and building this bomb .
“ I believe he provided encouragement right up to the end , far from trying to dissuade him from doing anything and withdraw from the conspiracy , this is a man who has been with his brother from start to finish.
” Those convictions , secured in March this year , were the result of an amazing police investigation which saw Hashem extradited from Libya .
Here , Manchester Evening News crime reporter John Scheerhout examines Hashem Abedi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bomber brother make the devastating improvised explosive device ( IED ) and prepare for the attack .
And he shines a light on how the siblings turned on Manchester - the city which had given them a home , education and refuge from Libya , the country from which their parents had fled .
Disturbingly , police believe Hashem Abedi , with his technical knowhow and ability to source chemicals , could have gone on to commit another atrocity .
The family attempt to stop the Abedi brothers ’ terror attack that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 , Salman and Hashem ’ s Abedi ’ parents flew back to Manchester from Libya , where they were living at the time .
Police are confident the events of that month reveal an attempt to get the would-be terrorists miles away from Manchester , where they had set up a bomb factory .
Nine days after the Abedi parents , Ramadan , 52 , and Samia Abedi , 52 , arrived in Manchester they flew back to Libya with Salman , 22 , and Hashem Abedi , then 20 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tickets - booked for them by their elder brother , Ismail Abedi .
“ ( The family ) must have known that these two ( Hashem and Salman ) were getting so badly radicalised and they were about to do something stupid - must have ” , Det Chf Supt Barraclough said .
Indeed , once the family were back in Tripoli , the Libyan capital , it ’ s understood that Ramadan Abedi confiscated Salman Abedi ’ s passport .
But on May 18 , 2017 , after just over a month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Manchester alone .
It seems he had retrieved his passport and escaped his family ’ s home .
The fact Hashem stayed behind in Libya has raised suspicion of the potential for another attack .
“ The fact he stayed in Libya… I don ’ t know why they made that decision ” , Det Chf Supt Barraclough said .
“ Was that because Hashem was going to do something else ?
`` Going to move into perhaps the next terrorism atrocity ?
This was all about the sick ideology of IS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for martyrdom .
`` What was he going to do next ?
Where would his career as a terrorist take him ?
” Meanwhile , once back in the UK , Salman Abedi went straight from Manchester Airport to Rusholme , where he and his brother Hashem had left a Nissan Micra .
They had bought the Nissan Micra hours before their parents had flown them out of the country , at a time when their terror plans had been thrown suddenly in turmoil .
Just before midnight on April 13 , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ £230 cash for it .
They had then faced a race against time to clear out their bomb factory before they had to leave Manchester for Libya .
Indeed , exactly 24 hours after they bought the car , they retrieved their explosive - a substance called TATP ( triacetone triperoxide ) , chemicals and shrapnel from their 12th floor bomb factory at Somerton Court , a tower block in Blackley .
They loaded their Micra with nails , screws and large blue barrels , each filled with the deadly home-made TATP - @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t explode by accident .
Neither had a driving licence and the car wasn ’ t insured , so to avoid the risk of both being caught , Hashem drove the Micra to a car park of Devell House in Rusholme , while Salman followed in a taxi , carrying two cardboard boxes , with the pair nervously calling and texting each other all the way .
This meant that , after Salman managed to escape Libya in May , the car was still waiting for him , the explosives undisturbed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an attack at the Ariana Grande concert , at Manchester Arena , days later .
He had checked on the Micra , likely fearing it was being watched by police , before going to buy a large , blue Kangol suitcase and loading it with the explosives from the car .
CCTV captured him dragging the heavy suitcase behind him to a cab , which took him to another flat he had rented at Granby Row in central Manchester , where he carefully assembled the device , dried out the TATP on carpet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ floor , and made final preparations for the attack he and his brother had planned so carefully .
He followed brother Hashem ’ s instructions on how to wire up the device properly , as notes in Arabic later found at the scene would reveal .
And he carried out a reconnaissance mission at the Arena , where Take That were in concert that Thursday night , the first of three nights at the venue .
CCTV played to the jury showed Salman Abedi , hiding under a cap , walking by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office and then standing and looking at concert-goers who were on their way into the venue , no doubt contemplating how to inflict the maximum carnage .
Salman Abedi chose to detonate his bomb four days later , at 10.31pm on the Monday night of May 22 , as concert-goers , mostly teenagers and young children were leaving the venue , following the Ariana Grande concert .
The last call he made was timed at 8.20pm , while he was sitting on a bench at the platform at Shudehill Metrolink station , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attack .
The call was to the Abedi family home in Tripoli and lasted four minutes and 12 seconds .
It ’ s likely it was to Hashem Abedi .
“ I think he ’ s ringing his brother getting his last-minute inspiration and last-minute advice and he ’ s telling him what he ’ s about to do ” , Det Chf Supt Barraclough said .
“ These two brothers were literally hand in glove in this process.
” In the aftermath of the attack , Ramadan Abedi protested his family ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us , ” he is reported to have said .
But his second and third sons clearly did believe in it .
They were hell-bent on it .
And their family ’ s attempt to stop them had been too little , too late .
Hashem and Salman Abedi had been on a dangerous path for years .
Hashem Abedi and his brother Salman were raised to hate Colonel Gaddafi , Libya ’ s despotic secular ruler , by their religious radical father , Ramadan Abedi .
The family were firmly rooted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Said to be a member of the al-Qaeda aligned Libya Islamic Fighting Group , dad Ramadan proudly posted a picture on his Facebook page of a young Hashem , then 15 , somewhere in north Africa with an automatic weapon with the caption : “ Hashem the lion… in training.
” Ramadan expected his son Hashem to shoulder arms to fight for Libya and radical Islam .
Ramadan had been a security officer under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ’ s regime , but was among a number of religious radicals who fled in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settled here , with his wife Samia and eldest son Ismail , making Fallowfield their home .
They went on to have four more sons - all born in the UK ( Salman , Hashem , Wesel , Othman ) - and a daughter ( Jomana ) .
With no known employment , Ramadan spent a lot of time in the mosques around Manchester where he was a well-known figure .
His wife Samia was also deeply religious .
Years later , when they were old enough , Ramadan would take the boys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school holidays , to take part in the Arab Spring wave of uprisings .
Salman and Hashem went to Burnage High School for Boys , where they got to know other like-minded Libyan heritage kids with more than a passing interest in radical Islam , and where the former landed ten GCSEs including an A* in Arabic .
Hashem was taken out of school aged 14 because the entire family returned to Tripoli in 2011 , following the death in Libya of Muammar Gaddafi .
With Gaddafi gone , the Abedis thought they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Libya .
But the country 's turmoil didn ’ t end - and so the Abedi family returned to Manchester two years later .
By August 2013 they were all back at Elsmore Road in Fallowfield , where mother Samia was claiming housing benefit for herself and her five youngest children , Ismail having moved out by then .
The family ’ s return to Manchester didn ’ t stop the teenage brothers Salman and Hashem spending the summer of 2014 back in Libya , possibly fighting in the civil war that was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pair had to be rescued by HMS Enterprise in Tripoli in August 2014 , with more than 100 other British citizens caught up in the fighting .
Their rescue was one of many acts of humanity and generosity they were happy to accept from a country they grew to hate .
As well as their council home , the family enjoyed approaching £200,000 in state benefits and student loans across seven years , some of which would end up being spent on preparations for the Arena bomb .
Having grown up steeped in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salman and Hashem developed their own extremist concept of jihad .
Not merely against Colonel Gadaffi , but against the West .
In the months after their rescue from Libya by the Royal Navy , their transformation from members of the L Squad - a hard-partying , weed-smoking gang of Libyan-heritage teenagers - into radicalised ultra-conservative Muslim fanatics preparing for terror , got well underway .
Within the walls of the Abedi family home on Elsmore Road in Fallowfield , there was support for the Islamic State group in August 2015 .
Hashem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his brother and a group of Libyan-heritage friends invited round to their home .
Mum and dad weren ’ t there .
The chat turned to an item on CNN about the ‘ caliphate ’ IS was carving out along the border between Syria and Iraq .
One of the fellow students enjoying dinner that night noted Salman Abedi was quick to express ‘ empathy ’ with IS .
He was irked at how the media seemed to ‘ attack ’ them .
Some of the half a dozen young men who were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What was discussed at the get-together of young mates is known because one of the diners was a student who spent a few weeks living with the Abedi brothers and who gave evidence against Hashem Abedi during his trial .
The pair had become friends at Burnage High School for Boys .
Hashem , he said , appeared to be ‘ in agreement ’ with what his brother was saying , he would later tell police .
The Abedi brothers , he said , were planning to go to Mecca in Saudi Arabia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ annual pilgrimage Muslims are obliged to carry out at least once in their lifetime .
The police would later find Hajj ID cards for the brothers confirming that they did make the trip .
The next time this friend would see the brothers again was in April 2017 , just a few weeks before the bombing , back at the Abedi family home after Friday prayers .
He was shocked .
Salman Abedi , who had been a regular at the gym in 2015 , had lost a lot of weight .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It was around 2015 the brothers started wearing traditional Islamic clothes more frequently , and Salman in particular became far more pious , sometimes berating the younger Hashem for not being serious enough .
The brothers ’ journey to becoming dangerous jihadis took different paths .
They appeared sometimes to be at odds with each other but their hatred of the west was shared .
The trial heard evidence Salman Abedi spoke ‘ aggressively ’ to Hashem at a party on Rusholme ’ s Curry Mile in May 2015 , humiliating him in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Libyan-heritage men .
He seemed upset his younger brother hadn ’ t been home all weekend and was more interested in partying .
The brothers were back in Libya in the summer of 2015 where , for Hashem at least , taking drugs and partying , rather than fighting , were on the agenda .
A mate dismissed by Salman Abedi as a ‘ bad influence ’ on his younger brother recalled an ‘ amazing ’ party at a beach house near Tripoli .
When the mate had gone to pick up Hashem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salman and hid from the more religious , older lad .
He noted how both brothers became more religious back in Manchester .
Known for ‘ hating ’ education , they gave the impression of being more studious , as well as more serious about their faith , as they grew into young men .
Salman went to North Trafford College where he would he would get a D in GCSE English but an A* in A-level Arabic , as well as a business diploma .
In 2014 Hashem resumed the education he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in English and maths at Manchester College in Openshaw , as well as a BTEC diploma in engineering .
Despite his brother ’ s disapproval , and the growing seriousness of his attitude to religion , Hashem never really gave up a party lifestyle .
But he also formed an association with an older man that would later raise investigators ' eyebrows .
In 2016 he spent time in Germany working for a man who the US had once suspected of being a fundraiser for Libyans affiliated to al-Qaeda .
Later that year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a party in Amsterdam , by the peer whom his brother Salman considered a bad influence , doing drugs .
Hashem was an enthusiastic consumer of drugs , any drugs , but mainly cannabis .
He would invite pals to ‘ hotbox ’ in his BMW and was renowned for rolling an ‘ extra large spliff ’ .
Even by January 2017 , when Hashem was plotting a terror attack with his brother , who had dropped out of a business management course at Salford University so he could concentrate on it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Manchester , at a hotel in London .
His ‘ bad influence ’ friend told the trial : “ I think he was taking drugs because he knew what his brother was going to do . ''
Hashem dropped out of education again in March 2016 , and when he did work , it was handing out flyers in the mornings and on-off employment as a £5-an-hour , cash in hand takeaway delivery driver in the evenings , where he would routinely pocket the change due to customers .
Salman ’ s transformation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had grown from an aspiring footballer with ‘ a good left foot ’ into one of the ‘ bad boys ’ of young Libyans from the park - the L Squad - whose rivals were a group of lads from Moss Side .
Smoking cannabis , bulking up in the gym and getting involved in fights Salman had lived what one friend described as ‘ a little bit of a gangster lifestyle ’ in his teens .
Read more of today 's top stories here But as he got older , he became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the point that the parents of more liberal Muslims urged their kids not to listen to the young fanatic .
`` My mum would often confront Salman about his religious views and this sometimes resulted in conflict , '' one family friend told the trial .
Salman Abedi wouldn ’ t just urge people to pray , go to the mosque and recite stories from Islam .
He would say ‘ life is temporary ’ and talk openly about martyrdom , saying it was ‘ something big ’ saying ‘ jihad is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the mosque , he liked to be at the front to listen to the imam .
His brother Hashem ’ s trial heard about an occasion in March 2017 , two months before the bombing , when - again seated at the front - Salman stepped in and took over prayers when the imam began to stutter .
Brother Hashem was sitting a few rows back with a pal who told the trial he thought what Salman had done was ‘ cheeky ’ .
Two months before the attack , only half @ @ @ @ @ @ @ student during a car journey : `` Do chemistry so you can build a bomb . ''
Tellingly , brother Hashem - who claimed to be unaware of his brother ’ s increasingly extreme views - was driving when Salman said it .
The student who later told the police the anecdote said he laughed it off at the time .
`` To be honest even if he had said to me ' I 'm going to build a bomb ' I would n't have believed him , '' said the witness , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reasons .
Others observed that Hashem appeared ‘ scared ’ of Salman and didn ’ t want his older brother to know he still smoked weed or ‘ did anything naughty ’ .
Salman certainly didn ’ t think his younger brother , known by one friend as ‘ clumsy , a little stupid and Goofy ’ , was going to the mosque enough .
Hashem might not have seemed as fanatical as his brother on the surface , but he played a critical role in his brother ’ s atrocity .
Hashem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acid on Amazon for him .
His ‘ bad influence ’ friend didn ’ t believe his ‘ bulls**t story ’ that it was needed to replace acid in a battery which had been knocked over and spilled back at the Abedi family home in Libya .
He soon realised this was one of chemicals used to make explosives , snubbed his friend and , following the explosion , told police what he knew .
But Hashem did manage to persuade his cousin , Alharth Forjani , 21 , to buy sulphuric acid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , telling him it was ‘ for his car ’ .
Actually it was to makeTATP , the explosive used in the bomb at the Arena .
Hashem and Salman both went to Alharth Forjani ’ s house to pick it up once it had been delivered by DHL .
Like others , Alharth Forjani admitted he had a ‘ bad feeling ’ - but said he only learned later it could be used to make explosives .
“ I think he believes in it , ” he told his cousin ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meant by ‘ it ’ , he said simply : “ Terrorism.
” The Abedi brothers were regulars at Fade Away barbershop on Princess Road , in Moss Side , where Libyan politics - and terrorism - were hot topics of discussion .
Another well-known face in the barbershop was a man from the nearby Alexandra Park estate , paraplegic Abdalraouf Abdallah .
The dual British-Libya national was something of a hero in Manchester ’ s close-knit Libyan dissident community - he was paralysed in 2011 after being shot in the spine fighting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And , as he was recovering in hospital , Abedis father , Ramadan , urged friends on Facebook to pray for him .
In the years that followed his life-changing injury , Abdalraouf Abdallah became an Islamic State recruiter , and a figure at the heart of a south Manchester-based clique of Islamic State sympathisers .
He ran a communications hub from the family home on Westerling Way in Moss Side , arranging contact with IS , money , go-betweens and weapons .
Abdalraouf ’ s brother , Mohammed Abdallah , was also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an application form to become an IS sniper - listing his fighting abilities , previous experience of holy war , and preference for anti-aircraft machine guns .
And , after Abdalraouf brokered his brother ’ s membership of IS , Mohammed became a trusted operative of the terror group - in Syria and Libya - before returning to the UK , only for justice to catch up with him .
Salman and Hashem Abedi no doubt considered the Abdallahs as inspirational jihadis in their warped worldview .
And at Fade Away in Moss @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wake of the bomb - the Abedi brothers chatted and listened to Abdalraouf , before he ended up being locked up for terror offences , as did his brother Mohammed .
Fade Away was run by the Abedi brothers ’ maternal uncle Adel Forjani , who told Hashem ’ s trial that he had noticed that the siblings had ‘ started to be radicalised ’ .
The uncle , 49 , himself a Libyan refugee who came to the UK in 1994 , warned his own sons not to associate with Abdalraouf .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ told them that I did not want him to come back to the shop and not mingle with them , when my son told me this man had ISIS way of thinking.
” But Salman Abedi kept in touch with Abdalraouf .
Salman Abedi visited the Islamic State recruiter while he was on remand at HMP Belmarsh in February 2015 , awaiting trial .
And he visited him in the months before the attack at the arena , at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool on January 18 , 2017 , where Abdalraouf Abdallah was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for terror crimes .
A week later , even though he was behind bars , Abdalraouf managed to call Salman Abedi on a mobile phone - they chatted for four minutes and 17 seconds .
What they discussed has never been revealed , although it ’ s not difficult to imagine that summer ’ s ‘ operation ’ may have been one of the subjects .
Abedi also booked to visit him again - on March 6 - but didn ’ t attend on that occasion .
Was Abdalraouf the man who radicalised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Arena bombing don ’ t think so .
He was certainly like-minded .
But the guiding hand who taught them the skills they would need to build a bomb and avoid the police ?
The Arena investigators doubt that .
That person had never been identified by the police investigation but detectives strongly suspect the radicalisation , and indeed the training , which propelled the Abedi brothers to the Arena bombing , happened when they were on their ‘ summer holidays ’ in Libya .
Between January and April 2017 , Hashem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have sourced 16 litres of sulphuric acid and 55 litres of hydrogen peroxide , two of the three chemicals required to make TATP , the explosive nicknamed ‘ Mother of Satan ’ .
They had enough chemicals to make six kilos of TATP - up to five kilos are estimated to have been used in the Arena bomb .
With Hashem having asked pals to to use their Amazon accounts , the chemicals came in from restoration and crafts , hygiene and chemical suppliers from as far away as northern Italy .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreed , and the brothers simply picked the packages up once they were delivered .
The brothers also used an unoccupied terraced house on Lindum Street in Rusholme , whose Libyan tenant was away , as a delivery address for some of the chemicals - Hashem ’ s prints were found there while Salman was seen riding away from the property on his mountain bike .
During the early days of their ‘ operation ’ , the brothers experimented on a prototype bomb at the family home in Elsmore Road , Fallowfield .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ takeaways , managed to get his hands on old 20 litre tins of Consumer ’ s Pride vegetable oil .
The brothers spent hours cutting up the tins in what were early , experimental efforts at making detonator tubes and other parts of an IED ( improvised explosive device ) .
Their prints were found all over the inside and outside of the pieces of tin in the shed in the back garden - so many of them it made a complete mockery of Hashem Abedi ’ s later claim that he only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there .
Hashem also bought nails and screws , claiming these weren ’ t for shrapnel but to do up the shed , although the shed was in such a poor condition nails and screws weren ’ t going to save it .
His prints were also on six potential detonator tubes - not used in the final device - found at the city centre apartment where his brother assembled the bomb .
Equally ludicrous was Hashem ’ s claim that he only collected the oil drums to trade in for scrap - @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been worth just 18p had he weighed it in at his local scrap merchants .
Having a City and Guilds qualification in electrical installation from Manchester College in Openshaw , Hashem Abedi was responsible for ensuring the circuitry for the device worked properly .
His prints were found on a rolled up document uncovered in the attic at the Abedi home featuring a list of questions about electricity titled ‘ Power Factor ’ and also on A4 sized hand-drawn diagram of electrical circuits titled ' 3 minute alarm ' found in an upstairs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an old Toyota Aygo to collect the chemicals and transport them to the12th floor flat at Somerton Court in Blackley , north Manchester , where the brothers carefully manufactured TATP .
The pair took advantage of the tenant , a Libyan law graduate who was desperate to earn enough money to reunite his son with his other sibling and mother in Libya , so was willing to flout housing association rules and sublet his apartment to them for £850 for two months .
He and his son would stay with a friend , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one-bed flat would be used to produce explosives , traces of which would be found in the sump in the shower room , in the u-bend under the kitchen sink and in the vacuum cleaner .
The sub-letter had spotted a notice Salman Abedi had posted on a Libyan community Facebook group in Arabic , looking for a place to rent .
When the Arena bomber turned up , he was rude .
He scorned Arab custom by turning down the offer of a cup of tea - and appeared disinterested in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hashem only seemed interested in whether there was a local mosque .
Having secured themselves a place well away from their home in Fallowfield , the brothers set about sourcing more chemicals and making TATP , storing the volatile substance in the freezer once they produced and dried it .
Hashem Abedi set up an email address , 'bedab7jeana @ gmail.com ' , to purchase 30 litres of hydrogen peroxide .
In Arabic , the email translates as 'we come to slaughter ' or 'to slaughter we have come ' , a widely-used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when he set up the email address via free wifi at Hulme Market , was clearly taking a sick pleasure in sign-posting what was to come - with an in-joke few others would understand .
At some point , the brothers ’ fairly rudimentary bomb plans became more sophisticated .
Items found at the scene of the explosion - and at the city centre apartment where Salman Abedi assembled the device - led police to believe the pair must have viewed an Islamic State video on how to build a bomb which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in November 2016 .
In it , a masked jihadi wearing white gloves is seen carefully making TATP in a kitchen , using household products , with an icon of an Islamic State flag in one corner of the screen .
Speaking in Arabic but with English subtitles , he casually describes how some of the items required can be obtained in the shops , instructing viewers to wear a mask during the process .
“ Only prepare this shortly before an operation , ” says the masked figure .
The device would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ permission ’ , he says .
Step-by-step instructions are given on how to manufacture both the explosive and the detonators using rolled up pieces of aluminium from a soft drinks can .
Not all of the IS instructional video was shown to the jury - not shown was a portion showing a man being forced to wear a rucksack packed with TATP and it being detonated as he runs away .
The precise nature of the detonators used in the Arena bomb was never established from what was found at the scene .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ were inspired by this video lay in the remains of two drinks cans found in the foyer after the blast and other items found at the city centre flat where the bomb was assembled .
The brothers were probably transporting more chemicals when they had a car accident on March 23 , 2017 , in Fallowfield .
In spite of the fact neither had a licence , Hashem was at the wheel , with his brother beside him , when he crashed the Aygo into another car , leaving the lady driver of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , on Wellington Road .
The pair were seen trying in vain to repair the car before ripping labels from a box in the rear of the vehicle and then running away in opposite directions , verbally abusing a pedestrian as he called police to report the incident .
He noticed that there were four or five brown cardboard boxes on the back seat of their damaged car and the pair were 'tampering with them - ripping labels off ' .
No-one saw the brothers remove bottles of chemicals , but it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exactly what they were doing .
The car was taken away and scrapped and it was only after the bombing the significance of the crash became clear to the Arena investigators .
Two days after the crash 25 litres of hydrogen peroxide were ordered using the wifi at the Golden Tandoori , the curry house in the Northern Quarter where Hashem Abedi worked , using an the Amazon account of a friend of Hashem .
This order was delivered to the empty house in Lindum Street , Rusholme .
It was one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chemicals by Hashem Abedi , using a blizzard of ten different mobile phones and at least four sim cards to thwart any police investigation .
Those steps were yet another indication of the determination with which the Abedi brothers went about their evil work , along with the network of addresses they used , their association with radical Islamists on two continents , the months of planning , and Salman Abedi ’ s escape from his parents home in Libya , after the family became suspicious they were bent on violent extremism .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the headlights up to something they don ’ t understand , ” Det Chf Supt Simon Barraclough said .
“ These two men are the real deal .
These are proper jihadis .
You can not walk into a space like that arena , kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that , taking with you 22 other lives like that , unless you are proper jihadis .
`` This is the proper stuff . ''

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When Salman Abedi detonated that huge bomb in his backpack as exhilarated kids and teenagers were leaving a pop concert at Manchester Arena, he wasn’t alone.
As he inflicted the most horrific single crime our city has witnessed, his cowardly, hate-filled younger brother Hashem Abedi was awaiting news 2,000 miles away in Libya.
Only Salman Abedi detonated the device, causing the blast that sent 3,000 pieces of shrapnel, flying like bullets across the foyer, killing 22 and maiming dozens more.
But Hashem was there in spirit - and he was just as culpable as his brother for an unfathomable crime visited upon innocent people.
(Image: GMP)
Hashem didn’t flick the switch, nor could he hear the dull groans of pain of those who had survived the blast.
But Salman, who was decapitated by the force of the blast, couldn’t have committed the mass-murder/suicide without him.
The suicide bomber looked to his younger brother as his munitions expert, quartermaster, driver and confidante.
Hashem Abedi, college drop-out, takeaway delivery driver and petty thief, was this year convicted of 22 counts of murder; attempting to murder those who survived the blast; and conspiracy to cause an explosion.
Today, he was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 55 years. He will be in his 70s before he will even be considered for parole.
The case’s senior investigating officer, Det Chf Supt Simon Barraclough, said: “He’s every bit as responsible as his brother Salman.
“The fact that he was in Libya when that bomb was detonated, for me, is utterly irrelevant. 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, far from trying to dissuade him from doing anything and withdraw from the conspiracy, this is a man who has been with his brother from start to finish.”
Those convictions, secured in March this year, were the result of an amazing police investigation which saw Hashem extradited from Libya.
(Image: GMP)
Here, Manchester Evening News crime reporter John Scheerhout examines Hashem Abedi’s role in helping his suicide bomber brother make the devastating improvised explosive device (IED) and prepare for the attack.
And he shines a light on how the siblings turned on Manchester - the city which had given them a home, education and refuge from Libya, the country from which their parents had fled.
Disturbingly, police believe Hashem Abedi, with his technical knowhow and ability to source chemicals, could have gone on to commit another atrocity.
The family attempt to stop the Abedi brothers’ terror attack that was too little, too late
In April 2017, Salman and Hashem’s Abedi’ parents flew back to Manchester from Libya, where they were living at the time.
Police are confident the events of that month reveal an attempt to get the would-be terrorists miles away from Manchester, where they had set up a bomb factory.
Nine days after the Abedi parents, Ramadan, 52, and Samia Abedi, 52, arrived in Manchester they flew back to Libya with Salman, 22, and Hashem Abedi, then 20.
The two young men were travelling on one-way tickets - booked for them by their elder brother, Ismail Abedi.
“(The family) must have known that these two (Hashem and Salman) were getting so badly radicalised and they were about to do something stupid - must have”, Det Chf Supt Barraclough said.
Indeed, once the family were back in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, it’s understood that Ramadan Abedi confiscated Salman Abedi’s passport.
But on May 18, 2017, after just over a month in Libya, Salman Abedi flew back to Manchester alone. It seems he had retrieved his passport and escaped his family’s home.
The fact Hashem stayed behind in Libya has raised suspicion of the potential for another attack.
“The fact he stayed in Libya… I don’t know why they made that decision”, Det Chf Supt Barraclough said.
“Was that because Hashem was going to do something else?
"Going to move into perhaps the next terrorism atrocity? This was all about the sick ideology of IS (Islamic State) and this desire for martyrdom.
"What was he going to do next? Where would his career as a terrorist take him?”
Meanwhile, once back in the UK, Salman Abedi went straight from Manchester Airport to Rusholme, where he and his brother Hashem had left a Nissan Micra.
(Image: GMP)
They had bought the Nissan Micra hours before their parents had flown them out of the country, at a time when their terror plans had been thrown suddenly in turmoil.
Just before midnight on April 13, they had found the vehicle online and paid £230 cash for it.
They had then faced a race against time to clear out their bomb factory before they had to leave Manchester for Libya.
Indeed, exactly 24 hours after they bought the car, they retrieved their explosive - a substance called TATP (triacetone triperoxide), chemicals and shrapnel from their 12th floor bomb factory at Somerton Court, a tower block in Blackley.
They loaded their Micra with nails, screws and large blue barrels, each filled with the deadly home-made TATP - and water - so the volatile substance didn’t explode by accident.
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Neither had a driving licence and the car wasn’t insured, so to avoid the risk of both being caught, Hashem drove the Micra to a car park of Devell House in Rusholme, while Salman followed in a taxi, carrying two cardboard boxes, with the pair nervously calling and texting each other all the way.
This meant that, after Salman managed to escape Libya in May, the car was still waiting for him, the explosives undisturbed, ready for him to use in an attack at the Ariana Grande concert, at Manchester Arena, days later.
He had checked on the Micra, likely fearing it was being watched by police, before going to buy a large, blue Kangol suitcase and loading it with the explosives from the car.
CCTV captured him dragging the heavy suitcase behind him to a cab, which took him to another flat he had rented at Granby Row in central Manchester, where he carefully assembled the device, dried out the TATP on carpet protector and towels he laid across the floor, and made final preparations for the attack he and his brother had planned so carefully.
He followed brother Hashem’s instructions on how to wire up the device properly, as notes in Arabic later found at the scene would reveal.
And he carried out a reconnaissance mission at the Arena, where Take That were in concert that Thursday night, the first of three nights at the venue.
CCTV played to the jury showed Salman Abedi, hiding under a cap, walking by a long queue of people at the box office and then standing and looking at concert-goers who were on their way into the venue, no doubt contemplating how to inflict the maximum carnage.
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Salman Abedi chose to detonate his bomb four days later, at 10.31pm on the Monday night of May 22, as concert-goers, mostly teenagers and young children were leaving the venue, following the Ariana Grande concert.
The last call he made was timed at 8.20pm, while he was sitting on a bench at the platform at Shudehill Metrolink station, as he made his final preparations for the attack.
The call was to the Abedi family home in Tripoli and lasted four minutes and 12 seconds.
It’s likely it was to Hashem Abedi.
“I think he’s ringing his brother getting his last-minute inspiration and last-minute advice and he’s telling him what he’s about to do”, Det Chf Supt Barraclough said.
“These two brothers were literally hand in glove in this process.”
In the aftermath of the attack, Ramadan Abedi protested his family’s innocence.
“We don’t believe in killing innocents.
"This is not us,” he is reported to have said.
But his second and third sons clearly did believe in it.
They were hell-bent on it.
And their family’s attempt to stop them had been too little, too late. Hashem and Salman Abedi had been on a dangerous path for years.
A radical childhood
Hashem Abedi and his brother Salman were raised to hate Colonel Gaddafi, Libya’s despotic secular ruler, by their religious radical father, Ramadan Abedi.
The family were firmly rooted in the ultra-conservative Salafi branch of Sunni Islam.
Said to be a member of the al-Qaeda aligned Libya Islamic Fighting Group, dad Ramadan proudly posted a picture on his Facebook page of a young Hashem, then 15, somewhere in north Africa with an automatic weapon with the caption: “Hashem the lion… in training.”
Ramadan expected his son Hashem to shoulder arms to fight for Libya and radical Islam.
Ramadan had been a security officer under Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, but was among a number of religious radicals who fled in the early 1990s.
In 1994 Ramadan settled here, with his wife Samia and eldest son Ismail, making Fallowfield their home.
They went on to have four more sons - all born in the UK (Salman, Hashem, Wesel, Othman) - and a daughter (Jomana).
With no known employment, Ramadan spent a lot of time in the mosques around Manchester where he was a well-known figure. His wife Samia was also deeply religious.
Years later, when they were old enough, Ramadan would take the boys back to north Africa, during their school holidays, to take part in the Arab Spring wave of uprisings.
Salman and Hashem went to Burnage High School for Boys, where they got to know other like-minded Libyan heritage kids with more than a passing interest in radical Islam, and where the former landed ten GCSEs including an A* in Arabic.
Hashem was taken out of school aged 14 because the entire family returned to Tripoli in 2011, following the death in Libya of Muammar Gaddafi.
With Gaddafi gone, the Abedis thought they were safe to resume family life in Libya.
But the country's turmoil didn’t end - and so the Abedi family returned to Manchester two years later.
By August 2013 they were all back at Elsmore Road in Fallowfield, where mother Samia was claiming housing benefit for herself and her five youngest children, Ismail having moved out by then.
The family’s return to Manchester didn’t stop the teenage brothers Salman and Hashem spending the summer of 2014 back in Libya, possibly fighting in the civil war that was raging there at the time.
The pair had to be rescued by HMS Enterprise in Tripoli in August 2014, with more than 100 other British citizens caught up in the fighting.
Their rescue was one of many acts of humanity and generosity they were happy to accept from a country they grew to hate.
As well as their council home, the family enjoyed approaching £200,000 in state benefits and student loans across seven years, some of which would end up being spent on preparations for the Arena bomb.
Having grown up steeped in the language of Libyan religious radicalism, Salman and Hashem developed their own extremist concept of jihad.
Not merely against Colonel Gadaffi, but against the West.
In the months after their rescue from Libya by the Royal Navy, their transformation from members of the L Squad - a hard-partying, weed-smoking gang of Libyan-heritage teenagers - into radicalised ultra-conservative Muslim fanatics preparing for terror, got well underway.
Drugs, parties and radicalisation
(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Within the walls of the Abedi family home on Elsmore Road in Fallowfield, there was support for the Islamic State group in August 2015.
Hashem Abedi cooked a traditional Libyan stew for his brother and a group of Libyan-heritage friends invited round to their home. Mum and dad weren’t there.
The chat turned to an item on CNN about the ‘caliphate’ IS was carving out along the border between Syria and Iraq.
One of the fellow students enjoying dinner that night noted Salman Abedi was quick to express ‘empathy’ with IS. He was irked at how the media seemed to ‘attack’ them.
Some of the half a dozen young men who were at the dinner agreed with Salman.
What was discussed at the get-together of young mates is known because one of the diners was a student who spent a few weeks living with the Abedi brothers and who gave evidence against Hashem Abedi during his trial.
The pair had become friends at Burnage High School for Boys.
Hashem, he said, appeared to be ‘in agreement’ with what his brother was saying, he would later tell police.
The Abedi brothers, he said, were planning to go to Mecca in Saudi Arabia in September 2015 for Hajj, the annual pilgrimage Muslims are obliged to carry out at least once in their lifetime. The police would later find Hajj ID cards for the brothers confirming that they did make the trip.
The next time this friend would see the brothers again was in April 2017, just a few weeks before the bombing, back at the Abedi family home after Friday prayers.
He was shocked. Salman Abedi, who had been a regular at the gym in 2015, had lost a lot of weight. The brothers were wearing traditional Islamic dress.
It was around 2015 the brothers started wearing traditional Islamic clothes more frequently, and Salman in particular became far more pious, sometimes berating the younger Hashem for not being serious enough.
The brothers’ journey to becoming dangerous jihadis took different paths. They appeared sometimes to be at odds with each other but their hatred of the west was shared.
The trial heard evidence Salman Abedi spoke ‘aggressively’ to Hashem at a party on Rusholme’s Curry Mile in May 2015, humiliating him in front of a group of other young Libyan-heritage men.
He seemed upset his younger brother hadn’t been home all weekend and was more interested in partying.
The brothers were back in Libya in the summer of 2015 where, for Hashem at least, taking drugs and partying, rather than fighting, were on the agenda.
A mate dismissed by Salman Abedi as a ‘bad influence’ on his younger brother recalled an ‘amazing’ party at a beach house near Tripoli.
When the mate had gone to pick up Hashem for the party, the pair saw Salman and hid from the more religious, older lad. He noted how both brothers became more religious back in Manchester.
Known for ‘hating’ education, they gave the impression of being more studious, as well as more serious about their faith, as they grew into young men.
Salman went to North Trafford College where he would he would get a D in GCSE English but an A* in A-level Arabic, as well as a business diploma.
In 2014 Hashem resumed the education he had abandoned in 2011 by taking GCSEs in English and maths at Manchester College in Openshaw, as well as a BTEC diploma in engineering.
Despite his brother’s disapproval, and the growing seriousness of his attitude to religion, Hashem never really gave up a party lifestyle.
But he also formed an association with an older man that would later raise investigators' eyebrows.
In 2016 he spent time in Germany working for a man who the US had once suspected of being a fundraiser for Libyans affiliated to al-Qaeda.
Later that year, in October, Hashem was spotted at a party in Amsterdam, by the peer whom his brother Salman considered a bad influence, doing drugs.
Hashem was an enthusiastic consumer of drugs, any drugs, but mainly cannabis.
He would invite pals to ‘hotbox’ in his BMW and was renowned for rolling an ‘extra large spliff’.
(Image: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire)
Even by January 2017, when Hashem was plotting a terror attack with his brother, who had dropped out of a business management course at Salford University so he could concentrate on it, he carried on partying: in Manchester, at a hotel in London.
His ‘bad influence’ friend told the trial: “I think he was taking drugs because he knew what his brother was going to do."
Hashem dropped out of education again in March 2016, and when he did work, it was handing out flyers in the mornings and on-off employment as a £5-an-hour, cash in hand takeaway delivery driver in the evenings, where he would routinely pocket the change due to customers.
Salman’s transformation appeared to be more profound. He had grown from an aspiring footballer with ‘a good left foot’ into one of the ‘bad boys’ of young Libyans from the park - the L Squad - whose rivals were a group of lads from Moss Side.
Smoking cannabis, bulking up in the gym and getting involved in fights Salman had lived what one friend described as ‘a little bit of a gangster lifestyle’ in his teens.
But as he got older, he became something of a would-be radical preacher, to the point that the parents of more liberal Muslims urged their kids not to listen to the young fanatic.
"My mum would often confront Salman about his religious views and this sometimes resulted in conflict," one family friend told the trial.
Salman Abedi wouldn’t just urge people to pray, go to the mosque and recite stories from Islam.
He would say ‘life is temporary’ and talk openly about martyrdom,saying it was ‘something big’ saying ‘jihad is beautiful’.
When Salman Abedi went to the mosque, he liked to be at the front to listen to the imam.
His brother Hashem’s trial heard about an occasion in March 2017, two months before the bombing, when - again seated at the front - Salman stepped in and took over prayers when the imam began to stutter.
Brother Hashem was sitting a few rows back with a pal who told the trial he thought what Salman had done was ‘cheeky’.
Two months before the attack, only half joking, Salman Abedi told a young student during a car journey: "Do chemistry so you can build a bomb."
(Image: GMP)
Tellingly, brother Hashem - who claimed to be unaware of his brother’s increasingly extreme views - was driving when Salman said it.
The student who later told the police the anecdote said he laughed it off at the time.
"To be honest even if he had said to me 'I'm going to build a bomb' I wouldn't have believed him," said the witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Others observed that Hashem appeared ‘scared’ of Salman and didn’t want his older brother to know he still smoked weed or ‘did anything naughty’.
Salman certainly didn’t think his younger brother, known by one friend as ‘clumsy, a little stupid and Goofy’, was going to the mosque enough.
Hashem might not have seemed as fanatical as his brother on the surface, but he played a critical role in his brother’s atrocity.
Hashem asked friends and family to buy sulphuric acid on Amazon for him.
His ‘bad influence’ friend didn’t believe his ‘bulls**t story’ that it was needed to replace acid in a battery which had been knocked over and spilled back at the Abedi family home in Libya.
He soon realised this was one of chemicals used to make explosives, snubbed his friend and, following the explosion, told police what he knew.
But Hashem did manage to persuade his cousin, Alharth Forjani, 21, to buy sulphuric acid via his Amazon account in January 2017, telling him it was ‘for his car’.
Actually it was to makeTATP, the explosive used in the bomb at the Arena.
Hashem and Salman both went to Alharth Forjani’s house to pick it up once it had been delivered by DHL.
Like others, Alharth Forjani admitted he had a ‘bad feeling’ - but said he only learned later it could be used to make explosives.
“I think he believes in it,” he told his cousin’s murder trial. When pressed what he meant by ‘it’, he said simply: “Terrorism.”
A link to ISIS
(Image: PA)
The Abedi brothers were regulars at Fade Away barbershop on Princess Road, in Moss Side, where Libyan politics - and terrorism - were hot topics of discussion.
Another well-known face in the barbershop was a man from the nearby Alexandra Park estate, paraplegic Abdalraouf Abdallah.
The dual British-Libya national was something of a hero in Manchester’s close-knit Libyan dissident community - he was paralysed in 2011 after being shot in the spine fighting Gaddafi’s men in Libya.
And, as he was recovering in hospital, Abedis father, Ramadan, urged friends on Facebook to pray for him.
In the years that followed his life-changing injury, Abdalraouf Abdallah became an Islamic State recruiter, and a figure at the heart of a south Manchester-based clique of Islamic State sympathisers.
He ran a communications hub from the family home on Westerling Way in Moss Side, arranging contact with IS, money, go-betweens and weapons.
Abdalraouf’s brother, Mohammed Abdallah, was also a fanatic. He once filled out an application form to become an IS sniper - listing his fighting abilities, previous experience of holy war, and preference for anti-aircraft machine guns.
And, after Abdalraouf brokered his brother’s membership of IS, Mohammed became a trusted operative of the terror group - in Syria and Libya - before returning to the UK, only for justice to catch up with him.
Salman and Hashem Abedi no doubt considered the Abdallahs as inspirational jihadis in their warped worldview.
And at Fade Away in Moss Side - which police raided in the wake of the bomb - the Abedi brothers chatted and listened to Abdalraouf, before he ended up being locked up for terror offences, as did his brother Mohammed.
Fade Away was run by the Abedi brothers’ maternal uncle Adel Forjani, who told Hashem’s trial that he had noticed that the siblings had ‘started to be radicalised’.
The uncle, 49, himself a Libyan refugee who came to the UK in 1994, warned his own sons not to associate with Abdalraouf.
He told the trial: "I told them that I did not want him to come back to the shop and not mingle with them, when my son told me this man had ISIS way of thinking.”
But Salman Abedi kept in touch with Abdalraouf.
Salman Abedi visited the Islamic State recruiter while he was on remand at HMP Belmarsh in February 2015, awaiting trial.
And he visited him in the months before the attack at the arena, at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool on January 18, 2017, where Abdalraouf Abdallah was serving his jail sentence following his conviction for terror crimes.
A week later, even though he was behind bars, Abdalraouf managed to call Salman Abedi on a mobile phone - they chatted for four minutes and 17 seconds.
What they discussed has never been revealed, although it’s not difficult to imagine that summer’s ‘operation’ may have been one of the subjects.
Abedi also booked to visit him again - on March 6 - but didn’t attend on that occasion.
Was Abdalraouf the man who radicalised the Abedi brothers?
Detectives who investigated the Arena bombing don’t think so. He was certainly like-minded. But the guiding hand who taught them the skills they would need to build a bomb and avoid the police? The Arena investigators doubt that.
That person had never been identified by the police investigation but detectives strongly suspect the radicalisation, and indeed the training, which propelled the Abedi brothers to the Arena bombing, happened when they were on their ‘summer holidays’ in Libya.
How Hashem Abedi helped his brother commit mass murder
(Image: GMP)
Between January and April 2017, Hashem Abedi and brother Salman are known to have sourced 16 litres of sulphuric acid and 55 litres of hydrogen peroxide, two of the three chemicals required to make TATP, the explosive nicknamed ‘Mother of Satan’.
They had enough chemicals to make six kilos of TATP - up to five kilos are estimated to have been used in the Arena bomb.
With Hashem having asked pals to to use their Amazon accounts, the chemicals came in from restoration and crafts, hygiene and chemical suppliers from as far away as northern Italy.
While some pals had become suspicious, enough agreed, and the brothers simply picked the packages up once they were delivered.
The brothers also used an unoccupied terraced house on Lindum Street in Rusholme, whose Libyan tenant was away, as a delivery address for some of the chemicals - Hashem’s prints were found there while Salman was seen riding away from the property on his mountain bike.
During the early days of their ‘operation’, the brothers experimented on a prototype bomb at the family home in Elsmore Road, Fallowfield.
Hashem Abedi, from his work at takeaways, managed to get his hands on old 20 litre tins of Consumer’s Pride vegetable oil.
The brothers spent hours cutting up the tins in what were early, experimental efforts at making detonator tubes and other parts of an IED (improvised explosive device).
Their prints were found all over the inside and outside of the pieces of tin in the shed in the back garden - so many of them it made a complete mockery of Hashem Abedi’s later claim that he only touched them while enjoying a furtive cigarette there.
Hashem also bought nails and screws, claiming these weren’t for shrapnel but to do up the shed, although the shed was in such a poor condition nails and screws weren’t going to save it.
(Image: GMP)
His prints were also on six potential detonator tubes - not used in the final device - found at the city centre apartment where his brother assembled the bomb.
Equally ludicrous was Hashem’s claim that he only collected the oil drums to trade in for scrap - it turns out each tin would have been worth just 18p had he weighed it in at his local scrap merchants.
Having a City and Guilds qualification in electrical installation from Manchester College in Openshaw, Hashem Abedi was responsible for ensuring the circuitry for the device worked properly.
His prints were found on a rolled up document uncovered in the attic at the Abedi home featuring a list of questions about electricity titled ‘Power Factor’ and also on A4 sized hand-drawn diagram of electrical circuits titled '3 minute alarm' found in an upstairs box room.
He paid £250 for an old Toyota Aygo to collect the chemicals and transport them to the12th floor flat at Somerton Court in Blackley, north Manchester, where the brothers carefully manufactured TATP.
The pair took advantage of the tenant, a Libyan law graduate who was desperate to earn enough money to reunite his son with his other sibling and mother in Libya, so was willing to flout housing association rules and sublet his apartment to them for £850 for two months.
He and his son would stay with a friend, and he had no idea his humble one-bed flat would be used to produce explosives, traces of which would be found in the sump in the shower room, in the u-bend under the kitchen sink and in the vacuum cleaner.
(Image: PA)
The sub-letter had spotted a notice Salman Abedi had posted on a Libyan community Facebook group in Arabic, looking for a place to rent.
When the Arena bomber turned up, he was rude. He scorned Arab custom by turning down the offer of a cup of tea - and appeared disinterested in the spec or the asking price. Brother Hashem only seemed interested in whether there was a local mosque.
Having secured themselves a place well away from their home in Fallowfield, the brothers set about sourcing more chemicals and making TATP, storing the volatile substance in the freezer once they produced and dried it.
Hashem Abedi set up an email address, 'bedab7jeana@gmail.com', to purchase 30 litres of hydrogen peroxide.
In Arabic, the email translates as 'we come to slaughter' or 'to slaughter we have come', a widely-used slogan in Salafi-jihadi circles.
Hashem Abedi, when he set up the email address via free wifi at Hulme Market, was clearly taking a sick pleasure in sign-posting what was to come - with an in-joke few others would understand.
(Image: GMP)
At some point, the brothers’ fairly rudimentary bomb plans became more sophisticated.
Items found at the scene of the explosion - and at the city centre apartment where Salman Abedi assembled the device - led police to believe the pair must have viewed an Islamic State video on how to build a bomb which the terror group posted on the internet in November 2016.
In it, a masked jihadi wearing white gloves is seen carefully making TATP in a kitchen, using household products, with an icon of an Islamic State flag in one corner of the screen.
Speaking in Arabic but with English subtitles, he casually describes how some of the items required can be obtained in the shops, instructing viewers to wear a mask during the process.
“Only prepare this shortly before an operation,” says the masked figure. The device would be detonated ‘with Allah’s permission’, he says.
Step-by-step instructions are given on how to manufacture both the explosive and the detonators using rolled up pieces of aluminium from a soft drinks can.
Not all of the IS instructional video was shown to the jury - not shown was a portion showing a man being forced to wear a rucksack packed with TATP and it being detonated as he runs away.
The precise nature of the detonators used in the Arena bomb was never established from what was found at the scene.
However, one clue that the brothers were inspired by this video lay in the remains of two drinks cans found in the foyer after the blast and other items found at the city centre flat where the bomb was assembled.
The brothers were probably transporting more chemicals when they had a car accident on March 23, 2017, in Fallowfield.
In spite of the fact neither had a licence, Hashem was at the wheel, with his brother beside him, when he crashed the Aygo into another car, leaving the lady driver of the other motor traumatised and in tears, on Wellington Road.
The pair were seen trying in vain to repair the car before ripping labels from a box in the rear of the vehicle and then running away in opposite directions, verbally abusing a pedestrian as he called police to report the incident.
He noticed that there were four or five brown cardboard boxes on the back seat of their damaged car and the pair were 'tampering with them - ripping labels off'.
No-one saw the brothers remove bottles of chemicals, but it’s not difficult to imagine this was exactly what they were doing.
The car was taken away and scrapped and it was only after the bombing the significance of the crash became clear to the Arena investigators.
Two days after the crash 25 litres of hydrogen peroxide were ordered using the wifi at the Golden Tandoori, the curry house in the Northern Quarter where Hashem Abedi worked, using an the Amazon account of a friend of Hashem.
This order was delivered to the empty house in Lindum Street, Rusholme.
It was one of nine known actual or attempted purchases of chemicals by Hashem Abedi, using a blizzard of ten different mobile phones and at least four sim cards to thwart any police investigation.
Those steps were yet another indication of the determination with which the Abedi brothers went about their evil work, along with the network of addresses they used, their association with radical Islamists on two continents, the months of planning, and Salman Abedi’s escape from his parents home in Libya, after the family became suspicious they were bent on violent extremism.
“These are not kids caught in the headlights up to something they don’t understand,” Det Chf Supt Simon Barraclough said.
“These two men are the real deal. These are proper jihadis. You cannot walk into a space like that arena, kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that, taking with you 22 other lives like that, unless you are proper jihadis.
"This is the proper stuff."


themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--GMP police chief Ian Hopkins on Hashem Abedi sentencing

The police investigation into the Manchester Arena bombing atrocity remains 'live ' , with the head of GMP saying 'there are people we would still wish to speak to ' .
Ian Hopkins , chief constable of Greater Manchester Police , said more than 100 investigators remain attached to Operation Manteline , the codename given to the counter-terror inquiry .
As Hashem Abedi , the bomber 's brother , 23 , starts a life sentence with a minimum of 55 years , Mr Hopkins said the operation would n't be shut down .
`` It will start to get scaled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we are going to shut down any time soon , '' he told the Manchester Evening News .
`` There are people that we would still wish to speak to , but their location makes that difficult .
`` We are hoping that at some point , that might happen .
`` I don ’ t want to say too much about that because we don ’ t want to cause any issues but given the location of some of the people we want to speak to , it does make it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions of Hashem Abedi - jailed for 22 counts of murder ; attempted murder ; and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life - and his brother brought about 'one of the darkest days for our city ' , Mr Hopkins said .
Statements read out on behalf of bereaved families at Hashem Abedi 's sentencing hearing spoke of abject grief and continuing suffering .
Mr Hopkins said : `` I can not imagine what the families are feeling .
Twenty-two precious souls were lost to a murderous act .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Whatever the amount of time he spends in jail , it wo n't erase the pain that they all feel .
`` Nothing will ever take away the hurt and pain - certainly not someone receiving a life sentence .
`` But hopefully they have seen justice be done , but that can not take away the pain for them , nor for those who were injured .
`` It was one of the most darkest days in our city .
It 's just utterly horrendous .
`` I think I described @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in terms of trying to imagine why on earth anyone would wish to do this . ''
Hashem Abedi was extradited from Libya to face charges over the bombing .
Mr Hopkins praised the work of the government and the Crown Prosecution Service .
`` It may have taken three years , but we got him back from Libya , '' he said .
`` And he is now going to spend a large amount of time in a small cell .
`` It was really important for the families of the 22 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 .
`` And we said from the outset we were going to do everything we could to support them and bring those responsible for this atrocity to justice .
`` I want to pay testament to the British Government and the CPS , as well as the inquiry team .
`` Everybody came together and it was really challenging and touch and go on a number of occasions as to whether we would ever get him back .
`` But the evidence was that he was absolutely as culpable as Salman was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abedi ] .
`` The bomb making , the purchases , the evidence of them out driving around together .
Abedi chose not to stand in the dock to face his sentence - or attend large parts of his trial in the Old Bailey courtroom .
Mr Hopkins said : `` He has shown utter contempt to the families by the way he behaved in court .
`` He could have made it a lot easier for the families by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity .
He did n't .
`` He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and he showed his contempt for it and I think others can draw their own conclusions from his behaviour .
`` From a personal perspective , and I know from many of my colleagues , we would very much like to have seen him receive a whole life tariff , nevertheless he is going to spend a considerable part of his life in jail , where he belongs .
`` And others , at some stage , many decades from now , may have to make a decision as to whether he ever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hopkins said he suspected Hashem Abedi would die in jail .
Asked the question he said : `` I would suspect in all likelihood yes , but as I say , that 's a decision for others , many , many years from now . ''
Mr Hopkins described the Abedi brothers as 'calculating murderers that tried to divide our society ' .
`` But they failed to do that because actually what that atrocity did do , as painful as it was for those that lost their loved ones and those injured @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And it showed , it showed the world , that we stood together here in Manchester in our darkest hour .
`` Clearly one of the aims of a terrorist is to divide our society and they failed , miserably , in that as an objective because people came together to support each other and showed huge spirit and resilience , not only here in Manchester but beyond , and that was a very powerful message.
” '' And the fact that we 've had this sentence and him brought to justice shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commit an atrocity in the UK , we will do absolutely everything to make sure you stand trial here and are brought to justice . ''
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newsdesk@men-news.co.uk (Paul Britton, Pat Hurst)

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The police investigation into the Manchester Arena bombing atrocity remains 'live', with the head of GMP saying 'there are people we would still wish to speak to'.
Ian Hopkins, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said more than 100 investigators remain attached to Operation Manteline, the codename given to the counter-terror inquiry.
As Hashem Abedi, the bomber's brother, 23, starts a life sentence with a minimum of 55 years, Mr Hopkins said the operation wouldn't be shut down.
"It will start to get scaled back, but it is not something that we are going to shut down any time soon," he told the Manchester Evening News .
"There are people that we would still wish to speak to, but their location makes that difficult.
(Image: PA)
"We are hoping that at some point, that might happen.
"I don’t want to say too much about that because we don’t want to cause any issues but given the location of some of the people we want to speak to, it does make it difficult at this time."
"It remains a live investigation."
The actions of Hashem Abedi - jailed for 22 counts of murder; attempted murder; and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life - and his brother brought about 'one of the darkest days for our city', Mr Hopkins said.
Statements read out on behalf of bereaved families at Hashem Abedi's sentencing hearing spoke of abject grief and continuing suffering.
(Image: PA)
Mr Hopkins said: "I cannot imagine what the families are feeling. Twenty-two precious souls were lost to a murderous act.
"They are incredibly courageous, brave people. Whatever the amount of time he spends in jail, it won't erase the pain that they all feel.
"Nothing will ever take away the hurt and pain - certainly not someone receiving a life sentence.
"But hopefully they have seen justice be done, but that cannot take away the pain for them, nor for those who were injured.
(Image: PA)
"It was one of the most darkest days in our city. It's just utterly horrendous.
"I think I described it at the time as unthinkable, in terms of trying to imagine why on earth anyone would wish to do this."
Hashem Abedi was extradited from Libya to face charges over the bombing.
Mr Hopkins praised the work of the government and the Crown Prosecution Service.
"It may have taken three years, but we got him back from Libya," he said.
(Image: MEN MEDIA)
"And he is now going to spend a large amount of time in a small cell.
"It was really important for the families of the 22 victims who lost their lives in May 2017.
"And we said from the outset we were going to do everything we could to support them and bring those responsible for this atrocity to justice.
"I want to pay testament to the British Government and the CPS, as well as the inquiry team.
"Everybody came together and it was really challenging and touch and go on a number of occasions as to whether we would ever get him back.
(Image: PA)
"But the evidence was that he was absolutely as culpable as Salman was [his brother, the bomber Salman Abedi].
"The bomb making, the purchases, the evidence of them out driving around together.
"The evidence was overwhelming."
Abedi chose not to stand in the dock to face his sentence - or attend large parts of his trial in the Old Bailey courtroom.
Mr Hopkins said: "He has shown utter contempt to the families by the way he behaved in court.
"He could have made it a lot easier for the families by pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity. He didn't.
(Image: Joel Goodman)
"He chose to put everybody through that trial and he showed his contempt for it and I think others can draw their own conclusions from his behaviour.
"From a personal perspective, and I know from many of my colleagues, we would very much like to have seen him receive a whole life tariff, nevertheless he is going to spend a considerable part of his life in jail, where he belongs.
"And others, at some stage, many decades from now, may have to make a decision as to whether he ever gets released on licence."
Mr Hopkins said he suspected Hashem Abedi would die in jail.
Asked the question he said: "I would suspect in all likelihood yes, but as I say, that's a decision for others, many, many years from now."
Mr Hopkins described the Abedi brothers as 'calculating murderers that tried to divide our society'.
"But they failed to do that because actually what that atrocity did do, as painful as it was for those that lost their loved ones and those injured, it brought everybody together.
"And it showed, it showed the world, that we stood together here in Manchester in our darkest hour.
"Clearly one of the aims of a terrorist is to divide our society and they failed, miserably, in that as an objective because people came together to support each other and showed huge spirit and resilience, not only here in Manchester but beyond, and that was a very powerful message.”
"And the fact that we've had this sentence and him brought to justice shows terrorists around the world, if you commit an atrocity in the UK, we will do absolutely everything to make sure you stand trial here and are brought to justice."
Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device. You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here . And you can follow us on Facebook here .


themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--Manchester Arena bomber's brother Hashem Abedi gets life in prison

The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 55 years .
Hashem Abedi , 23 , was found guilty of helping his younger sibling Salman commit the ISIS-inspired atrocity following a seven-week trial at the Old Bailey in London .
A jury found Abedi guilty on 22 counts of murder ; one count of attempted murder concerning those who were injured but survived the blast ; and conspiring with his brother to cause an explosion .
Cowardly Abedi refused to leave his cells to attend a sentencing hearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Baker said he did not have the legal power to ask prison officers to physically bring him into the dock .
In his absence , families from across the country wept as they told heartbreaking stories of the loved ones they lost in the bombing , while others who survived gave painful details of their suffering , both physical and mental .
Though he was not in the dock to hear it , Justice Jeremy Baker sentenced Abedi to life in prison with a minimum tariff off 55 years .
Both Justice Baker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should have meant he was handed a whole life order , meaning he would never be given the chance to leave prison .
But a loophole in the legislation means such orders can not be imposed on those who committed their crimes while under the age of 21 .
However , it is thought the 55 years Abedi must serve is among the highest minimum term ever handed out by a court in Britain .
There were gasps around the court room as Justice Baker made clear the minimum term is 55 years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before he can be considered for parole .
Hashem Abedi was 2,000 miles away in Libya at the time his brother Salman Abedi detonated a huge bomb in his backpack in the foyer of Manchester Arena as mainly young concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande pop concert on the evening of May 22 , 2017 .
Salman Abedi , then 22 , killed himself and 22 others in the blast , the youngest of them aged eight , and injured hundreds more , leaving 92 of them with life-long injuries .
The trial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and helped him design the devastating bomb as well as source shrapnel and chemicals to make deadly TATP explosive .
The Manchester-born siblings , from Fallowfield , began organising their terror attack five months before the bombing , getting unwitting friends to purchase bomb-making chemicals via their Amazon accounts .
They manufactured the explosive at a 12th floor apartment in Blackley before suddenly abandoning their operation in April 2017 , flying out to Libya with their parents .
Then , on May 18 , 2017 , Salman Abedi flew back to Manchester before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later .
Hashem Abedi was arrested in Libya shortly after the bombing in Libya but British counter-terrorism officers spent years negotiating his release .
Abedi was finally extradited and flown to the UK last July .
Following a trial , the foreman of the jury announced their verdicts in the absence of the defendant , who refused to attend the latter part of the trial and sacked his defence team .
In turn , the foreman announced guilty murder verdicts on each murder count : Elaine McIver , 43 ; Saffie-Rose Roussos , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Eilidh MacLeod , 14 ; Nell Jones , 14 ; Olivia Campbell-Hardy , 15 ; Megan Hurley , 15 ; Georgina Callander , 18 ; Chloe Rutherford,17 ; Liam Curry , 19 ; Courtney Boyle , 19 ; Philip Tron , 32 ; John Atkinson , 28 ; 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 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ came to court to give powerful victim impact statements .
Caroline Curry stood in the witness box and wept uncontrollably as she told the court about the loss of her ‘ beautiful boy ’ Liam .
He was just 19-years-old and at the concert with his girlfriend Chloe , 17 .
A teenager who had lost his father to cancer just a few months before the attack , but had already proved himself a young man mature beyond his years , supporting his mother and taking over day-to-day running of the house .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mrs Curry addressed Abedi directly and said ‘ your actions have caused this heartbreak .
I just feel cheated .
You took his future , my future , my family ’ s future.
’ Chloe Rutherford ’ s mum Lisa told the court of her teenage daughter who was so excited about turning 18 she ’ d already planned her birthday a year in advance .
She told how Chloe ’ s dad Mark has been left bereft .
“ All he ever wanted to do was make sure she was safe , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m her dad after all ’ .
”

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The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 55 years.
Hashem Abedi, 23, was found guilty of helping his younger sibling Salman commit the ISIS-inspired atrocity following a seven-week trial at the Old Bailey in London.
A jury found Abedi guilty on 22 counts of murder; one count of attempted murder concerning those who were injured but survived the blast; and conspiring with his brother to cause an explosion.
Cowardly Abedi refused to leave his cells to attend a sentencing hearing on Wednesday and Thursday.
Justice Jeremy Baker said he did not have the legal power to ask prison officers to physically bring him into the dock.
In his absence, families from across the country wept as they told heartbreaking stories of the loved ones they lost in the bombing, while others who survived gave painful details of their suffering, both physical and mental.
Though he was not in the dock to hear it, Justice Jeremy Baker sentenced Abedi to life in prison with a minimum tariff off 55 years.
Both Justice Baker and prosecutors agreed that Abedi's crimes should have meant he was handed a whole life order, meaning he would never be given the chance to leave prison.
But a loophole in the legislation means such orders cannot be imposed on those who committed their crimes while under the age of 21.
(Image: MEN MEDIA)
However, it is thought the 55 years Abedi must serve is among the highest minimum term ever handed out by a court in Britain.
There were gasps around the court room as Justice Baker made clear the minimum term is 55 years.
Abedi will be in his 70s before he can be considered for parole.
Hashem Abedi was 2,000 miles away in Libya at the time his brother Salman Abedi detonated a huge bomb in his backpack in the foyer of Manchester Arena as mainly young concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande pop concert on the evening of May 22, 2017.
Salman Abedi, then 22, killed himself and 22 others in the blast, the youngest of them aged eight, and injured hundreds more, leaving 92 of them with life-long injuries.
Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now
The trial heard Hashem Abedi had encouraged his brother and helped him design the devastating bomb as well as source shrapnel and chemicals to make deadly TATP explosive.
The Manchester-born siblings, from Fallowfield, began organising their terror attack five months before the bombing, getting unwitting friends to purchase bomb-making chemicals via their Amazon accounts.
They manufactured the explosive at a 12th floor apartment in Blackley before suddenly abandoning their operation in April 2017, flying out to Libya with their parents.
(Image: M.E.N.)
Then, on May 18, 2017, Salman Abedi flew back to Manchester before carrying out the devastating attack alone days later.
Hashem Abedi was arrested in Libya shortly after the bombing in Libya but British counter-terrorism officers spent years negotiating his release.
Abedi was finally extradited and flown to the UK last July.
Following a trial, the foreman of the jury announced their verdicts in the absence of the defendant, who refused to attend the latter part of the trial and sacked his defence team.
In turn, the foreman announced guilty murder verdicts on each murder count: Elaine McIver, 43; Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight; Sorrell Leczkowski, 14; Eilidh MacLeod, 14; Nell Jones, 14; Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15; Megan Hurley, 15; Georgina Callander, 18; Chloe Rutherford,17; Liam Curry, 19; Courtney Boyle, 19; Philip Tron, 32; John Atkinson, 28; 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.
Some relatives of those killed bravely came to court to give powerful victim impact statements.
Caroline Curry stood in the witness box and wept uncontrollably as she told the court about the loss of her ‘beautiful boy’ Liam.
He was just 19-years-old and at the concert with his girlfriend Chloe, 17.
A teenager who had lost his father to cancer just a few months before the attack, but had already proved himself a young man mature beyond his years, supporting his mother and taking over day-to-day running of the house.
Holding up a picture of Liam, Mrs Curry addressed Abedi directly and said ‘your actions have caused this heartbreak. I just feel cheated. You took his future, my future, my family’s future.’
Chloe Rutherford’s mum Lisa told the court of her teenage daughter who was so excited about turning 18 she’d already planned her birthday a year in advance.
She told how Chloe’s dad Mark has been left bereft.
“All he ever wanted to do was make sure she was safe, in his words - ‘I’m her dad after all’.”


themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--Emergency crews rush to canal after 'body in water' - nothing was found

Emergency crews responded to reports of a person in the water in a canal in Wigan - but nothing was found .
A large emergency operation was sparked in Platt Bridge at around 8.40pm last night ( August 19 ) .
Fire crews , police officers and ambulance crews received reports of a person in the water in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal .
But it has since been confirmed that nothing was found .
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service confirmed there were no signs of anyone in the water and Greater Manchester Police also confirmed that a body @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said : “ Fire crews were called to Platt Bridge , Wigan , at 8.40pm on Wednesday , 19 August , to reports of a person in the water .
“ Fire engines from Wigan and Eccles quickly arrived to the scene .
Greater Manchester Police and the North West Ambulance Service were also in attendance.
” “ Crews searched the surrounding area but there were no signs of anyone in the water.
” There were reports of a large emergency service presence on Crediton Drive and Abingdon Drive in Platt Bridge on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reportedly spotted searching the canal in that area for several hours .
Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device .
You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here .
And you can follow us on Facebook here .

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Emergency crews responded to reports of a person in the water in a canal in Wigan - but nothing was found.
A large emergency operation was sparked in Platt Bridge at around 8.40pm last night (August 19).
Fire crews, police officers and ambulance crews received reports of a person in the water in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
But it has since been confirmed that nothing was found.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service confirmed there were no signs of anyone in the water and Greater Manchester Police also confirmed that a body was not found.
A GMFRS spokesperson said: “Fire crews were called to Platt Bridge, Wigan, at 8.40pm on Wednesday, 19 August, to reports of a person in the water.
“Fire engines from Wigan and Eccles quickly arrived to the scene. Greater Manchester Police and the North West Ambulance Service were also in attendance.”
“Crews searched the surrounding area but there were no signs of anyone in the water.”
There were reports of a large emergency service presence on Crediton Drive and Abingdon Drive in Platt Bridge on social media last night.
Crews were reportedly spotted searching the canal in that area for several hours.
Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device. You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here . And you can follow us on Facebook here .


themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--Ole Gunnar Solskjaer might trust only 19 Man United players in a 35-man squad

Finally , after 36 Premier League starts and at the age of 23 , Dean Henderson has been promoted to the Manchester United first-team players list on the club website .
Henderson , 23 , was languishing in the Under-23 section for the entirety of the campaign even though he has never played for United 's second string under their rebranded name and is never likely to .
Henderson last appeared for the reserves in April 2017 .
United security personnel waved Henderson through the barriers at Carrington on Thursday morning for the first time in over a year and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senior goalkeepers , with Joel Pereira still lingering after a string of chastening loans .
Thirty-two player profiles come under the first-team section , excluding Teden Mengi , Ethan Laird , and Ethan Galbraith - who all travelled to Cologne .
Tahith Chong is on loan at Werder Bremen , so whatever the pedantry over which rookies are deserving of first-team status , the squad exceeds 30 .
And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer truly trusts just over half of them .
Beyond the 'first XI ' that started five successive Premier League matches , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Eric Bailly , Axel Tuanzebe , and Brandon Williams have been entrusted in major matches , Fred replaced Nemanja Matic in Germany and Scott McTominay started every Premier League match he was available for until he left Old Trafford on crutches on Boxing Day .
Juan Mata is a canny game-changer .
Belief in Odion Ighalo has eroded to the point he arrived in the 93rd minute against Sevilla , when the first substitute to be called on was Timothy Fosu-Mensah , an auxiliary right-back .
Fosu-Mensah is trusted more than specialist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many Premier League games for United in the last six weeks as he had in the previous four-and-a-half years .
Fosu-Mensah 's resurrection was triggered by Luke Shaw 's injury and the brittle Dalot breaking down again .
The Dutchman managed more minutes than Phil Jones , injured for the entire post-lockdown run-in , and the maligned Marcos Rojo , due to be released if he is not sold in this window or the next .
Chris Smalling was the least involved of all six centre-backs during pre-season last year as Solskjaer wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ derided by Jose Mourinho at a lecture .
Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira are described as midfielders by United when it would be fairer to tag them as 'undefined ' .
Pereira regards himself as a playmaker and enjoyed some creditable displays there but United have Bruno Fernandes and Juan Mata , so Pereira has popped up as a holding midfielder , a left winger , and a right winger .
Lingard , once a World Cup semi-finalist playmaker , has gone longer without a league start than Pereira .
Both were unused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nine minutes to respond to Luuk de Jong 's winner through substitutions , and one of the arrivals was the harmless Daniel James .
McTominay , scorer of five goals in the season , discarded his bib and slipped on his shinpads but cursed when his name was not called .
Matic , curiously demoted for Fred in Cologne , was not needed against Sevilla and neither was Bailly or the rookie Teden Mengi .
Moot though it was , it was illogical of Solskjaer to select Lee Grant - a third-choice goalkeeper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Laird or Ethan Galbraith , seemingly assigned plane tickets for work experience .
`` We need to strengthen the squad depth , of course , '' Solskjaer said afterwards .
`` Because it 's going to be a long season and only a couple of weeks rest until we get going again .
Dust down , make sure we 're ready and fresh to go . ''
James is not a lost cause and Dalot should not be deemed a write-off despite a frustrating two years .
The Portuguese is still only 21 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where he is guaranteed playing time and has the platform to potentially play his way into the national squad for the European Championship .
That would be the ideal pathway back into the United first-team squad .
Jones , Rojo , and Smalling are free to leave with United on the lookout to improve their defence and United will not stand in the way if they receive an acceptable fee for Lingard , 28 in November .
Pereira , 24 , started twice as many league games as Lingard last term but has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and return of Paul Pogba .

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Finally, after 36 Premier League starts and at the age of 23, Dean Henderson has been promoted to the Manchester United first-team players list on the club website.
Henderson, 23, was languishing in the Under-23 section for the entirety of the campaign even though he has never played for United's second string under their rebranded name and is never likely to. Henderson last appeared for the reserves in April 2017.
United security personnel waved Henderson through the barriers at Carrington on Thursday morning for the first time in over a year and he is the youngest of their five senior goalkeepers, with Joel Pereira still lingering after a string of chastening loans.
Thirty-two player profiles come under the first-team section, excluding Teden Mengi, Ethan Laird, and Ethan Galbraith - who all travelled to Cologne. Tahith Chong is on loan at Werder Bremen, so whatever the pedantry over which rookies are deserving of first-team status, the squad exceeds 30. And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer truly trusts just over half of them.
Beyond the 'first XI' that started five successive Premier League matches, Sergio Romero and Henderson are reliable custodians, Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe, and Brandon Williams have been entrusted in major matches, Fred replaced Nemanja Matic in Germany and Scott McTominay started every Premier League match he was available for until he left Old Trafford on crutches on Boxing Day. Juan Mata is a canny game-changer.
Belief in Odion Ighalo has eroded to the point he arrived in the 93rd minute against Sevilla, when the first substitute to be called on was Timothy Fosu-Mensah, an auxiliary right-back. Fosu-Mensah is trusted more than specialist full-back Diogo Dalot and somehow started as many Premier League games for United in the last six weeks as he had in the previous four-and-a-half years.
Fosu-Mensah's resurrection was triggered by Luke Shaw's injury and the brittle Dalot breaking down again. The Dutchman managed more minutes than Phil Jones, injured for the entire post-lockdown run-in, and the maligned Marcos Rojo, due to be released if he is not sold in this window or the next. Chris Smalling was the least involved of all six centre-backs during pre-season last year as Solskjaer wants distributive defenders and Smalling's passing was derided by Jose Mourinho at a lecture.
Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira are described as midfielders by United when it would be fairer to tag them as 'undefined'. Pereira regards himself as a playmaker and enjoyed some creditable displays there but United have Bruno Fernandes and Juan Mata, so Pereira has popped up as a holding midfielder, a left winger, and a right winger. Lingard, once a World Cup semi-finalist playmaker, has gone longer without a league start than Pereira.
Both were unused in the Sevilla tie and Solskjaer took nine minutes to respond to Luuk de Jong's winner through substitutions, and one of the arrivals was the harmless Daniel James. McTominay, scorer of five goals in the season, discarded his bib and slipped on his shinpads but cursed when his name was not called.
Matic, curiously demoted for Fred in Cologne, was not needed against Sevilla and neither was Bailly or the rookie Teden Mengi. Moot though it was, it was illogical of Solskjaer to select Lee Grant - a third-choice goalkeeper - ahead of James Garner, Ethan Laird or Ethan Galbraith, seemingly assigned plane tickets for work experience.
"We need to strengthen the squad depth, of course," Solskjaer said afterwards. "Because it's going to be a long season and only a couple of weeks rest until we get going again. Dust down, make sure we're ready and fresh to go."
James is not a lost cause and Dalot should not be deemed a write-off despite a frustrating two years. The Portuguese is still only 21 and in need of a season-long loan where he is guaranteed playing time and has the platform to potentially play his way into the national squad for the European Championship. That would be the ideal pathway back into the United first-team squad.
Jones, Rojo, and Smalling are free to leave with United on the lookout to improve their defence and United will not stand in the way if they receive an acceptable fee for Lingard, 28 in November. Pereira, 24, started twice as many league games as Lingard last term but has become surplus following the signing of Fernandes and return of Paul Pogba.


themanchestereveningnews--2020-08-20--Detectives investigating murder of 17-year-old make another arrest

Detectives investigating the murder of a teenager in south Manchester have made another arrest .
Mohamoud Mohamed , 17 , known to pals as Momo , was stabbed to death during a clash on Henbury Street in Moss Side on Sunday , July 26 .
Police have now arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of conspiracy to murder .
He remains in custody for questioning .
Four boys - three aged 17 and one aged 19 - have been charged in relation to the murder .
In a statement , a GMP spokesperson said : `` At around 7.15pm on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called to reports of a disturbance on Henbury Street , Manchester .
`` Emergency services attended and a 17-year-old boy was sadly pronounced dead at the scene .
`` He has since been formally identified as Mohamoud Mohamed .
`` A 17-year old boy has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and remains in custody for questioning .
`` Four teenage boys – three aged 17 and one aged 19 – have been charged in relation to this murder .
`` Detectives are continuing to appeal to anyone with any information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible . ''
Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 9283 or the independent charity - Crimestoppers , anonymously , on 0800 555 111 .
Information can also be shared via our Major Incident Public Portal : https : //mipp.police.uk/operation/06GMP20A38-PO1 Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device .
You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here .
And you can @ @ @ @ @ @

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Detectives investigating the murder of a teenager in south Manchester have made another arrest.
Mohamoud Mohamed, 17, known to pals as Momo, was stabbed to death during a clash on Henbury Street in Moss Side on Sunday, July 26.
Police have now arrested a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
He remains in custody for questioning.
Four boys - three aged 17 and one aged 19 - have been charged in relation to the murder.
In a statement, a GMP spokesperson said: "At around 7.15pm on Sunday 26 July 2020, police were called to reports of a disturbance on Henbury Street, Manchester.
"Emergency services attended and a 17-year-old boy was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
"He has since been formally identified as Mohamoud Mohamed.
"A 17-year old boy has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and remains in custody for questioning.
"Four teenage boys – three aged 17 and one aged 19 – have been charged in relation to this murder.
"Detectives are continuing to appeal to anyone with any information to get in touch as soon as possible."
Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 9283 or the independent charity - Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Information can also be shared via our Major Incident Public Portal: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/06GMP20A38-PO1
Sign up to the free MEN email newsletter Get the latest updates from across Greater Manchester direct to your inbox with the free MEN newsletter You can sign up very simply by following the instructions here
Get breaking news first on the free Manchester Evening News app - download it here for your Apple or Android device. You can also get a round-up of the biggest stories sent direct to your inbox every day with the MEN email newsletter - subscribe here. And you can follow us on Facebook here.