An armed police officer stands at Manchester Piccadilly railway station in Manchester, UK. Bloomberg
An armed police officer stands at Manchester Piccadilly railway station in Manchester, UK. Bloomberg
An armed police officer stands at Manchester Piccadilly railway station in Manchester, UK. Bloomberg
An armed police officer stands at Manchester Piccadilly railway station in Manchester, UK. Bloomberg

Europe

Police 'failed to co-operate' in training before Manchester Arena attack

Greater Manchester Police has been criticised for approach before suicide bombing in which 22 died

Soraya Ebrahimi
Soraya Ebrahimi

February 22, 2021

  • English
  • Arabic

The inquiry into the Manchester Arena bombing has been told that Greater Manchester Police "left after doing their bit" in terrorism training exercises held before the attack.

The inquiry is investigating the exercises that were held in the years before the attack on May 22, 2017, in which 22 people were killed and hundreds injured when a bomb was detonated in the foyer of Manchester Arena after a concert.

John Fletcher, who worked for 18 years on contingency planning for major incidents as group manager of the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said the exercises were to test how well emergency services worked together.

Mr Fletcher said was disappointed that in the co-operation exercises, police officers disengaged after neutralising any threat, rather than helping fire and ambulance staff with casualties.

He told the inquiry that after an exercise in January 2014, he and his colleague at North West Ambulance Service had "strong words" with the police about their lack of co-operation.

But Mr Fletcher said the same thing happened at another exercise later that year.

He said the fire service had continued with that exercise and "refused to yield", so they could test their capabilities fully.

But Mr Fletcher said there were "quite a few" police officers "who weren't really paying attention to the elements we were doing".

He said that at a training exercise at the Trafford Centre in May 2016, the police inspector in the inner cordon would not allow fire and ambulance services inside, which caused a 90-minute delay in firefighters attending.

He said there was a general "lack of understanding" in what the fire service could provide.

A former police inspector then told the inquiry it had been clear long before the bombing that a probable point of failure in the event of a big terror attack would be the role of the force duty officer, because they had too much to do.

David Whittle, who conducted firearms training for 20 years, said the duty officer role was an "impossible task" and it would feel to the person fulfilling it "almost like being hit by a tidal wave".

But the inquiry heard that weeks before the bombing, Mr Whittle increased the number of tasks for the duty officer in the event of a terrorist firearms attack.

He said he had done so because those were "the duties that must be discharged" by the officer.

"That's not saying the FDO was responsible for doing all of them personally, but they are responsible for ensuring these things occur," Mr Whittle said.

There was no mention in the plan for who should help the duty officer to complete those duties, but it would be left to individual commanders to decide, he said.

The inquiry has previously heard that the police inspectorate warned in November 2016 that "an over-reliance" on the FDO could see them overwhelmed.

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Sustainable Development Goals

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation

10. Reduce inequality  within and among countries

11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects

14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development

15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development

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1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

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1799 - First small pox vaccine administered

1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery

1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases

1895 - Discovery of x-rays

1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time

1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1953 - Structure of DNA discovered

1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place 

1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill

1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.

1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out

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Friday (UAE kick-off times)

Borussia Dortmund v Paderborn (11.30pm)

Saturday 

Bayer Leverkusen v SC Freiburg (6.30pm)

Werder Bremen v Schalke (6.30pm)

Union Berlin v Borussia Monchengladbach (6.30pm)

Eintracht Frankfurt v Wolfsburg (6.30pm)

Fortuna Dusseldof v  Bayern Munich (6.30pm)

RB Leipzig v Cologne (9.30pm)

Sunday

Augsburg v Hertha Berlin (6.30pm)

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British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
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Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
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