Manchester Arena Inquiry: Experts 'stunned' by police misapprehension

Former counter-terrorism officer Iain Sirrell was giving evidence to the inquiry

Terrorism experts were "stunned" to hear senior police officials were unaware of a major failure on the night of the Manchester Arena bombing, an inquiry has heard.

Former Assistant Chief Constable Debbie Ford did not know Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had failed to tell other services it had declared a counter-terrorism operation.

She only found out during the inquiry.

Expert Iain Sirrell said that was "beyond surprising".

Twenty-two people died and hundreds more were injured when bomber Salman Abedi detonated a device in the arena's foyer at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.

Twenty-two people were killed in the attack

Shortly after the blast, GMP's force duty officer declared "Operation Plato" - the planned response to a terrorist firearms attack.

The hearing was told that for 10 months after the attack former GMP Chief Constable Ian Hopkins and his leadership team "laboured under the misapprehension" that Operation Plato's launch had been communicated to other emergency services within minutes.

Mr Sirrell who is one of three independent police experts giving evidence to the inquiry, said they were "certainly very surprised when we read that".

The former counter-terrorism officer added: "We were all surprised to read in [ACC Ford's] statement that she didn't discover Operation Plato hadn't been declared to other partners - only by reading our report."

He said it was "beyond surprising, perhaps a stunning fact".

The inquiry heard that emergency responders "acted courageously to provide first aid and support to the injured casualties" despite command failures.

Frontline officers' conduct was described as "outstanding" in the face of "a scene of appalling human tragedy and suffering".

The final evidence from the three police experts marked the end of the inquiry's phase which had been examining the emergency response.

The inquiry continues.

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