Hashem Abedi: Manchester Arena attacker sentence increase bid fails

Hashem Abedi helped his brother Salman plan the 2017 attack which killed 22 people

A bid to increase the prison sentence of the Manchester Arena bomber's brother has been rejected.

Hashem Abedi, 23, was jailed in August for his part in the 2017 terror attack which killed 22 people.

An application to further extend his 55-year term on the basis it was "unduly lenient" was lodged.

But it did not meet the requirement for a review, meaning it was not passed to the Attorney General's office, a spokesman said.

The identity of whoever made the application has not been made public.

Anyone can ask for a sentence to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme within 28 days of a sentencing and do not have to be involved in the case.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said: "The threshold is a high one, and the test was not met in this case."

Hashem Abedi helped his older sibling Salman to plan the attack at an Ariana Grande concert which killed 22 men, women and children and injured hundreds more on 22 May 2017.

He was convicted after a court heard he was "just as guilty" as his brother, who detonated the bomb.

"After careful consideration the Solicitor General has concluded that he could not refer this case to the Court of Appeal," the Attorney General's Office spokesman said.

"A referral under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal can only be made if a sentence is not just lenient but unduly so, such that the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range of sentences reasonably available in the circumstances of the offence."

The Solicitor General expressed his "deepest sympathies" to the victims and families affected by Abedi's "horrifying and cowardly act of violence".

"Abedi's abhorrent actions caused the death of 22 people, leaving hundreds more with physical injures and psychological trauma. The Manchester Arena attack was a horrifying and cowardly act of violence which targeted children and families. Those who were taken will never be forgotten," a spokesman said.