Manchester Arena bomber's brother pleads not guilty to 22 counts of murder

Hasham Abedi appeared at the Old Bailey in connection with the attack in 2017.

St Ann's Square after the attack
Author: Ellie LinfordPublished 22nd Oct 2019
Last updated 22nd Oct 2019

The brother of the Manchester Arena bomber has pleaded NOT guilty to 22 counts of murder.

Hashem Abedi appeared at the Old Bailey in relation to the attack at an Arena Grande concert in May 2017.

It took six minutes for all the charges to be read out in court and for Abedi to enter not guilty pleas to each one in turn.

Abedi denied 22 counts of murder - one for each of the attack's victims.

They were: off-duty police officer Elaine McIver, 43, Saffie Roussos, 8, Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, Nell Jones, 14, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, Megan Hurley, 15, Georgina Callander, 18, Chloe Rutherford,17, Liam Curry, 19, Courtney Boyle, 19, Philip Tron, 32, John Atkinson, 26, Martyn Hett, 29, Kelly Brewster, 32, Angelika Klis, 39, Marcin Klis, 42, Michelle Kiss, 45, Alison Howe, 45, Lisa Lees, 43, Wendy Fawell, 50 and Jane Tweddle, 51.

He also denies attempted murder and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.

During the hearing, the judge put off the trial from November 11th to January 13th.

The case is expected to go on for up to eight weeks