Manchester Arena Inquiry: Officers sent to hospitals after bombing

Supt Mark Dexter said his "spine went cold" at reports of shots being fired at Oldham Hospital

Armed officers were sent to hospitals in the wake of the Manchester bombing amid fears there could be attacks at the wards where the injured were being sent, an inquiry has heard.

Supt Mark Dexter said his "spine went cold" when he heard reports of shots being fired at Oldham Hospital.

Officers were deployed following fears of a "multi-sited" attack, he told the inquiry into the 2017 atrocity.

The reports eventually proved to be false, the hearing was told.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Salman Abedi detonated a homemade device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena on 22 May 2017.

Speaking about reports of shots being fired at a hospital, Supt Dexter, a Greater Manchester Police firearms commander, said: "I remember my spine going cold and almost a bit of paralysis in my back.

"I remember thinking, oh my God, it is marauding, multi-sited and they're actually attacking where we are sending the victims."

The inquiry was told there was also a report of a suspicious package at North Manchester General Hospital.

Supt Dexter said he immediately sent armed officers to Oldham as well as other hospitals in Greater Manchester.

Twenty-two people were killed in the May 2017 bombing

The inquiry also heard how the police commander became "frustrated" with Greater Manchester's Chief Fire Officer Peter O'Reilly.

The fire service has previously been criticised for failing to deploy crews until more than two hours after the bomb went off.

The court was told Supt Dexter spoke to Mr O'Reilly on the phone at about 01:00, almost two-and-a-half hours after the explosion, when the fire chief asked if it was safe for his fire officers to go into Victoria Station wearing ballistic protection.

By this time, unarmed police officers, paramedics, security and arena staff and members of the public had all been helping casualties.

Supt Dexter said: "There's potential reasons why he didn't know what the risk was but I was very frustrated at the time."

• Arena police chief did not share safety situation

• Abedi brother demands immunity at inquiry

• Arena police chief 'not the right man for the job'

The senior officer was at home on leave when the bomb went off and drove to the arena after being called by a colleague.

He arrived about 50 minutes after the explosion and agreed that had he got to the scene earlier he would have had a "very different view" about the absence of the fire service.

John Cooper QC, representing some of the bereaved families, told Supt Dexter the relatives of those who died wanted to thank him for "doing your duty in the most trying of circumstances".

Families of the victims held a minute's silence at the hearing to mark the fourth anniversary of the attack on Saturday.

Inquiry chair Sir John Saunders said "all our thoughts" were with those "caught up in those terrible events".

The inquiry continues.