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The man responsible for the Manchester Arena attack is believed to have been seen with a backpack and acting suspiciously just 30 minutes before setting off the blast.
An inquiry into the fatal bombing at an Ariana Grande concert three years ago, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds, opened earlier today.
A witness, who reported a man matching Salman Abedi’s description to security before the bomb was detonated, said he felt ‘fobbed off’ after guards failed to act on his suspicions.
The man, identified only as Witness A, said the suspect looked ‘out of place’ carrying a large rucksack in the crowded arena.
Counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney QC, said the witness confronted the suspicious person.
He told the court: ‘He asked the man, “What have you got in your rucksack?” but got no reply.
‘A then said, “It doesn’t look very good you know, you with a bag in a place like this. What are you doing?”
‘The man replied: “I’m waiting for somebody, mate. Have you got the time? What time is it?”‘
Witness A reported his concerns to Mohammed Agha, an employee of venue security firm Showsec, but said he was ‘fobbed off’.
Mr Agha eventually alerted another security officer, Kyle Lawler about the suspicious man carrying a backpack who was thought to be Abedi.
My Lawler tried to alert the control room when he saw Abedi walk into the City Room where the bomb was detonated.
In his statement read out by Mr Greaney, Mr Lawler said: ‘I just froze and didn’t get anything out on the radio.
‘I knew at that point it was too late.’
In his opening statement, Mr Greany QC there were several ‘missed opportunities’ to identify Salman Abedi as a threat.
He added the inquiry was not looking for ‘scapegoats’ but vital ‘lessons for the future’ to prevent tragedies of this scale from happening again.
The attackers, brothers Salman and Hashem Abedi, spent months preparing for the blast on May 22, 2017. Salman Abedi was killed when he detonated the suicide bomb.
His brother Hashem, who was in Libya at the time of the attack, was sentenced to at least 55 years in jail in August for planning the attack.
The inquiry, held in Manchester Magistrates’ Court less than a mile away from where the attack happened, is set to continue until spring next year.
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