Following the publication of the first volume of findings into the Manchester Arena Inquiry today by Chairman Sir John Saunders, Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, said:
“This inquiry has strongly demonstrated that there was an inexcusable catalogue of failings at every level which made the venue an attractive target to a terrorist attack, failed to deter or prevent the outrage, and as a result contributed to the loss of life and injury.
“Significantly, at the time, despite the country’s national threat level for a terrorist attack being classed as severe, the Government did not have laws in place to enforce venues such as the Manchester Arena and other concert venues to take appropriate counter-terrorism measures in such an environment.
“As a result of these combined failings, thousands of young people who attended the concert on that night were left an open and vulnerable target for terrorists because the security around the venue and event was nowhere near what it needed to be. There were gaps and failings galore.
“If the shortcomings in the UK legal and regulatory framework were not already apparent from earlier attacks in this country, the wave of attacks across Europe including the Charlie Hebdo, Stade de France and Bataclan attacks in 2015 should have left no doubt that existing provisions were inadequate.
“What is more alarming is that those systemic failings remain in place now, four years on.
“The actions of all key parties suggested that everybody treated this concert in relation to the profile of the audience, who were young concert goers and not potential trouble-makers.
“That is what tragically also made this concert a target, and sadly a catalogue of failings, from the Government’s lack of legislation to the systems and processes followed by all involved in security around the site, made it vulnerable and at risk.”
Hudgell Solicitors represent the families of Philip Tron and Sorrell Leczkowski, who both died as a result of the attack.
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