Covid-19: Manchester Arena Inquiry halted by lockdown

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

The public inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing will not resume as planned due to the coronavirus lockdown, its chairman has ruled.

Sir John Saunders has decided to pause the hearings until 18 January while options for the future are considered.

He said he was considering the impact of the latest Covid-19 restrictions on the inquiry, which was due to resume on Monday.

Virtual hearings are among the options he is looking at.

Another option is a very restricted attendance at the in-person hearings.

The inquiry was paused briefly in October after court staff at Manchester Magistrates' Court tested positive for Covid-19.

• What is the Manchester Arena Inquiry?

• The road to the Manchester Arena bombing

• Manchester bomber's brother jailed for 55 years

Salman Abedi murdered 22 people, including children, when he detonated a bomb in a large foyer filling with people after an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.

The inquiry is looking at whether the attack could have been prevented, what happened on 22 May 2017, the security arrangements around the arena, the emergency response to the bombing and the radicalisation of bomber Abedi.

Last year the inquiry, which began in September, heard how each of the 22 individual victims died as well as personal evidence about them from their families.