Salman Abedi: Inquest into death of arena bomber to be held

Salman Abedi killed 22 people in the 2017 attack

An inquest is to be held into the death of the Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi.

It will be carried out by the senior high court judge who oversaw the public inquiry into the suicide bombing, which killed 22 people in May 2017.

Abedi, 22, died when he exploded a home-made device in the arena foyer at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

His brother Hashem is serving a life sentence for his role in the attack.

Because Abedi died a violent death an inquest is ruled necessary by law - even though much of the evidence and circumstances of his death have already been uncovered in the long-running public inquiry into the bombing, which ended earlier this year.

A brief documentary inquest, where the coroner deals with written documents in a hearing with no jury or live witnesses called, will take place, but a date and venue for the hearing has not yet been made public.

The families of the people murdered in the attack have been informed of the proposals by Sir John Saunders, who will sit as a coroner for the purposes of the inquest.

In a brief statement, a spokeswoman for Sir John said: "The inquest into the death of Salman Abedi is being held as a documentary inquest, pursuant to section 9C of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

"The purpose of the inquest will be to answer the statutory questions about who died, where, when and how."