Hashem Abedi trial: CCTV of bomber Salman Abedi at Manchester Arena days before attack
Hashem Abedi has told the jury he is not an extremist and had no idea of his brother's plan.
Monday 24 February 2020 22:28, UK
Footage of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi scoping out the venue during a Take That concert, days before his suicide attack killed 22 people, has been shown to a jury.
Abedi can be seen looking at the crowds of people gathering before the event and the long queues at the box office, just metres from the spot where four days later he would return to detonate a rucksack device packed with shrapnel.
His younger brother, Hashem Abedi, 22, is on trial accused of helping him plan the atrocity which also injured hundreds more at the end of an Ariana Grande show on 22 May 2017.
CCTV footage shows Salman Abedi travelling to the Manchester Arena, spending more than a minute in the City Rooms where crowds can be seen milling around him, before leaving for the nearby Arndale shopping centre.
There he buys four nine-volt batteries and a large blue Kangol suitcase, used to transport his bomb-making equipment to the flat he had rented out in the city centre, after leaving his brother with family in Libya and returning alone to the UK on 18 May 2017.
Earlier he was caught on CCTV leaving the flat in Granby Row around 6pm.
He was seen moving through rush-hour traffic, past commuters scurrying for trains as he travelled to Victoria Station.
He swapped his Sim card between phones and took an untraced international call during the visit, where he walked the perimeter of the Arena venue before going inside to the City Rooms.
Afterwards he took a taxi to a local Screwfix shop to buy electrical cable, halogen bulbs and rolls of tape before returning to his flat at 8.04pm.
Jurors heard the next day he took the suitcase to Devell House, a block of flats in Rusholme, south Manchester, used to store bomb-making chemicals and equipment, until Salman Abedi returned from Libya to carry out the final stage of the plan.
There Salman loaded the suitcase and was pictured struggling to drag the heavy case at the city centre apartment, where he assembled the device.
Jurors have also been shown CCTV footage allegedly showing Salman taking a taxi to a B&Q store in Cheetham Hill where he spent nearly £200 on items including 4,000 screws, metal nuts, a swing bin, a spade, a saw, glue, tape, a set of drawers and an oak effect door.
Store worker Steven Dooley told police he woke on 23 May to see the "devastating events" of the previous evening on the news.
He remembered seeing a young man "acting suspiciously" in the store two days before the attack.
In his witness statement, Australian national Mr Dooley said: "I saw a male acting suspiciously. My attention was drawn to him mainly because he had his hoodie over his head and I thought he might be shoplifting.
"I made my way towards him to see what he was doing.
"I heard some rustling and I could see this same person trying to put a pedal bin in a rucksack. A few moments later I saw him with his backpack and carrying his pedal bin, so I knew he wasn't shoplifting."
Jurors were also taken through Salman's phone records from the afternoon of the bombing, which included multiple calls to an unknown Libyan number. The identity of the recipient has never been established.
Hashem Abedi has told the jury he is not an extremist and had no idea of his brother's plan.
He denies 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
The trial continues.