Manchester Arena bombing survivor ‘broken’ by plotter’s prison attack
Martin Hibbert wrote to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood saying Hashem Abedi’s attack on prison guards was a ‘catastrophic failure’ of duty.
An attack on prison officers by Manchester bomb plotter Hashem Abedi has been labelled a “catastrophic failure” of duty by the Justice Secretary in a letter from one of the survivors.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said it will carry out a review following the attack at HMP Frankland in County Durham on Saturday after three guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons.
The MoJ has suspended access to kitchens in separation and close supervision units, where inmates are kept apart from the general prison population.
In an open letter to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and the MoJ, survivor Martin Hibbert said he was “absolutely disgusted – beyond words” to hear about the attack.
“Let’s call this what it is: a catastrophic failure of your duty to protect prison staff and the public from an unrepentant terrorist,” he wrote in the letter posted on social media.
“Not only was Abedi allowed the freedom to move around and use facilities that should never be available to someone like him — he was able to track and target three prison guards using boiling oil and homemade weapons.”
Mr Hibbert suffered life-changing injuries at the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 where he was left with a spinal cord injury. His daughter Eve suffered severe brain damage in the attack, which killed 22 people.
“I was told justice would be served. What I see now is not justice. It’s a shameful lack of accountability and basic prison security” said Mr Hibbert.
“I’m not just angry. I’m broken by this. And I am furious that the pain of survivors like me is being so blatantly disrespected by your inaction.”
He called for Abedi to be stripped of access to any areas where he could make or find weapons.
“This cannot continue. Something drastic needs to be done. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now,” he wrote.
“Because right now, it feels like you’ve forgotten us.”
His comments come after families of five of the victims – Megan Hurley, Eilidh Macleod, Chloe Rutherford, Liam Curry, and Kelly Brewster – wrote to the Justice Secretary expressing “absolute disbelief” at the attack, the BBC reported.
The broadcaster said it had seen the letter, which read: “In our view, he should not be allowed any privileges whatsoever while serving a sentence for the deaths of 22 innocent lives and the injuring of many more.
“He should not have access to anything that he can weaponise, such as hot oil or items he can turn into blades.”
The families have called for Abedi to be put in permanent solitary confinement.
Abedi planned and prepared the attack with his brother, the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, and was extradited from Libya to the UK where he was sentenced to a record 55-year minimum term before he could be considered for parole in 2020 for 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.
