Manchester Arena Inquiry: Man with 'bulging rucksack' seen days before blast

Top row (left to right): Alison Howe, Martyn Hett, Lisa Lees, Courtney Boyle, Eilidh MacLeod, Elaine McIver, Georgina Callander, Jane Tweddle - Middle row (left to right): John Atkinson, Kelly Brewster, Liam Curry, Chloe Rutherford, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Megan Hurley, Michelle Kiss - Bottom row (left to right): Nell Jones, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, Philip Tron, Saffie-Rose Roussos, Sorrell Leczkowski, Wendy Fawell

A security supervisor saw a suspicious man carrying a "bulging rucksack" four days before a suicide bombing, the Manchester Arena Inquiry has heard.

Ex-police officer Jonathan Lavery said he thought the man may have been carrying out "hostile reconnaissance".

He was seen filming people in the arena's City Room before a Take That concert on 18 May 2017.

The man "stood out like a sore thumb" as he "did not fit the demographic" of a Take That fan, the inquiry was told.

Twenty-two people were killed and many more injured when Salman Abedi detonated an explosive as fans left the Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.

Mr Lavery, an operations executive for the arena's security provider Showsec, said he was "profiling" the crowd in the foyer before the Take That gig when an Asian man dressed in black came to his attention.

'Missed opportunities'

He told inquiry chair Sir John Saunders : "That individual actually stood out like a sore thumb.

"He was wearing a black tracksuit, I think the hood was up.

"I am convinced he had a mobile phone in front of him, waving it around."

Mr Lavery, who served as a police officer for more than 30 years, concluded the man - who was not Abedi - needed to be stopped but lost sight of him before he boarded a train from Manchester Victoria station.

He was later ruled out by police of having any involvement with the atrocity that followed, or having any known terrorism links.

Abedi, 22, was himself in the foyer on 18 May conducting reconnaissance as he briefly watched concertgoers queue about 35 minutes before the man entered the building.

The public inquiry has heard of "missed opportunities" in the hours before as Abedi was sighted dressed in black and bent over by the weight of the shrapnel packing his home-made explosives in a large rucksack on his back.

Both police and security workers received reports of suspicions from members of the public about Abedi on the evening of 22 May.

Mr Lavery, who joined Showsec in February 2017, was not working on the night of the bombing but next day emailed the firm's managing director to flag up the man with the "bulging rucksack".

The inquiry continues.