Manchester Arena Inquiry: Police chief 'prioritised identifying bomber'

Ex-Ch Insp Andrea Graham said she should have set up a forward command point

One of the first police chiefs to arrive at the scene of the Manchester Arena attack has told a public inquiry she could have done more to bring emergency service commanders together.

Former British Transport Police (BTP) Ch Insp Andrea Graham was in charge of officers for about 90 minutes.

The inquiry heard one of her immediate priorities was to identify the bomber Salman Abedi's body.

Ms Graham said on reflection she should have set up a forward command point.

This would have been a fixed location where senior officers from different agencies could gather to form a coordinated response.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at about 22:30 BST on 22 May 2017.

Ms Graham told the inquiry she went straight to the arena from her home after hearing of the attack about 30 minutes after the bombing.

• Police chief regrets taking taxi to bomb scene

• Police chief admits arena bomb response failings

• Student's 'heroic' efforts in arena attack praised

Officers from BTP and from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were at the scene, along with members of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS).

Ms Graham said she should have set up a forward command point.

"In such a fast moving incident and the time that I had to assess the scene and gain as much information as I could…it didn't enter my mind at that point. It would be a good idea and on reflection, it should have been done," she said.

Twenty-two people died in the attack on 22 May 2017

But she insisted responders were working together, with search teams including officers from both police forces, but there were "disjointed actions that police forces were taking on".

The inquiry heard that one of the immediate priorities for Ch Insp Graham was to inspect and identify the bomber's body.

This was so her officers could check CCTV to see if he had put another device elsewhere in the arena complex.

"I could have asked somebody to do that for me, [inspect his body]. However in my mind it wasn't a pleasant task and not one that I want to ask somebody else to do," she said.

The inquiry heard that, in the two years before the attack, BTP had failed to attend six out of nine meetings of the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum.

Ch Insp Graham attended only one session personally, sent a colleague on another occasion, and was on maternity leave for four others.

"There is one occasion where I didn't attend and without access to my Outlook calendar, because I am no longer part of British Transport Police, I can't say where I was or what I was doing," she said.

She rejected suggestions BTP did not engage with the forum.

The inquiry continues.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]