Manchester Arena: witness thought 'suicide bomber' when he saw Abedi

A father waiting to collect his daughters from Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert thought “suicide bomber” when he first saw Salman Abedi at the venue, he told an inquiry into the attack.

Neil Hatfield said “alarm bells in my head just went straight away” when he noticed a young man carrying a bag containing something “rock solid”.

“I thought ‘suicide bomber’ straight away, without very little doubt in my mind. My heart was racing. He looked like a terrorist,” Hatfield said on Monday. “I don’t know how to explain it, like a Bond villain. It was the bag, it was massive.”

After arriving to collect his four daughters, Hatfield saw a young man sitting at the top of the steps to the raised mezzanine level of the City Room foyer about 10 minutes before the explosion at 10.31pm on 22 May 2017.

Hatfield, described at the inquiry as a “significant witness”, added that he believed two security guards below were aware of the man and that “they were going to do something about it”.

“It sort of gave me a bit of relief, but I was still watching him. I looked him in his eyes and I could see he was emotionally distressed,” Hatfield said. “He seemed frightened, he didn’t seem right. My heart was getting faster and faster, and I was thinking this guy is moving into position to do something right now.

“I thought to myself, If that’s a bomb we were all dead, I really did. I thought he was going to get up, walk into the middle of the room and do what he did.

“I kept looking to the doors thinking the police were going to come in. I thought they’d be there. I thought they’d be on it. I really did.

“It was a horrible situation to be in, I felt hopeless.”

Hatfield said he saw Abedi, with his head down, “trudge” into the crowd with the heavy bag. “I almost had a bit of relief, he’s not doing anything. Then there was a massive flash of light.”