Father of Arena Victim Criticizes MI5 Over Blocked Legal Action

The father of a victim of the Manchester Arena Attack has labeled the ruling to prevent legal proceedings against MI5 as “pathetic”. Andrew Roussos’s daughter, eight-year-old Saffie-Rose, was the youngest among the 22 fatalities in the 2017 bombing. He stated that security services had “thrown everything they could” to obstruct a lawsuit initiated by grieving families and survivors, who claimed MI5’s failures contributed to the attack not being prevented. However, judges at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) determined that the legal action could not proceed because it had been filed beyond the permissible timeframe. A spokesperson for the Home Office indicated that the government “noted” the judgment, further stating that MI5 “participated fully” in the public inquiry concerning the attack. Over 300 claimants had asserted that their human rights were violated due to the security service’s alleged failure to implement adequate measures to prevent the attack carried out by bomber Salman Abedi. The claim was initiated only after the release of the delayed final report from a public inquiry into the bombing, which concluded that security services had overlooked an opportunity to intervene, potentially preventing Abedi’s actions. Judges Lord Justice Singh and Mrs Justice Farbey acknowledged their understanding of why the claim was not filed until the report’s publication, but maintained it should have been submitted earlier. Mr Roussos commented that families were compelled to “wait for all these reports to get the truth, and now we know the truth, we’re out of time”. He stated, “In the months running up to the tribunal, MI5 [and] their legal team did everything they could to stop it.” He added, “For MI5 to turn around and say we cannot take this any further because you’re out of time, that’s a pathetic excuse not to hear our side and hear the evidence.” The judge further noted that if the claims had been permitted to proceed, MI5 would have been required to reallocate resources to the legal process instead of focusing on “their core responsibilities” of preventing future attacks. Mr Roussos countered, “The legal action is dealt with by the legal team, not MI5 agents”. He continued, “You look at every court [building] and it says justice along the top, this is not justice, this is hiding.” He concluded, “My family personally don’t feel justice has been served here.” In a separate statement, the Home Office spokesman conveyed: “Our thoughts continue to be with all those who lost loved ones, and suffered such terrible harm, as a result of the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.”