COWARD'S COUNTDOWN
Chilling CCTV shows Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi fiddling with wires in lift just an hour before killing 22
THIS is the chilling moment Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi fiddles with wires on his deadly device moments before killing 22 in a devastating blast.
Twisted Abedi can be seen in the lift making his way up to the foyer of the Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017, where thousands of children and adults were spilling out of an Ariana Grande concert.
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The warped jihadi was captured on CCTV adjusting wires under his jacket that were strapped to the homemade explosive.
Just one hour later, the 22-year-old flicked the switch on the bomb - sending shrapnel through the foyer killing himself and 22 innocent gig-goers in a terror attack that horrified the nation.
The haunting CCTV was released after brother Hashem Abedi, 22, was yesterday found guilty of mass murder over his part in the atrocity.
Hashem, who was 2,000 miles away in Libya at the time of the blast, was the ringleader in the attack and helped his brother source nuts and bolts to pack into the IED.
The monster denied he was a terrorist - but the Old Bailey heard how he was "every bit as responsible" as his older brother as he plotted further bloodshed across the world.
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Heartbroken families of the victims wept as jurors took less than five hours to convict him 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
But there was fury as "coward" Hashem Abedi refused to appear in court for the verdict and avoided the dock to give evidence during the seven-week trial.
Daryl Price, whose son John Atkinson, 28, was among those killed in the blast, said: "The last few weeks have been draining, both mentally and physically, and when the jury read out their decision it felt like somebody had kicked me in the stomach.
"I was expecting it but it still knocked the wind out of me, I couldn't breathe for a few seconds.
"I am annoyed that he couldn't make an appearance in court to face those people whose lives he ruined.
"I had planned to go to London for the verdict, I wanted to look him right in the eye, but he is too much of a coward for that".
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During his trial, the Old Bailey heard how the sadistic brothers spent months hatching the bloodbath - using bank accounts of pals to buy chemicals online.
The pair used their mum's £550-a-week benefit payments, which she continued to receive after she left the UK for Libya, to buy tools.
They flew back to Libya when friends noticed signs they had been radicalised but just days before the attack, Salman Abedi returned to Manchester.
Haunting CCTV caught him skulking around the arena at a Take That gig on a practice run.
And Hashem Abedi, a former electronics student, continued advising him by phone — and is believed to have been the last person he spoke to when he stopped at a bench on his way to the gig.
Salman later left for the nearby Arndale shopping centre where he bought batteries and a blue Kangol suitcase so he could move his bomb-making equipment to the flat he rented in Manchester city centre.
DEADLY BLAST
He was then caught in chilling CCTV images with a rucksack packed with thousands of nuts just 19 seconds before the deadly blast.
Salman Abedi waited for around an hour in the Manchester Arena foyer before parents and children left the gig at 10.30pm.
One minute later, he detonated the bomb as 359 people stood in the City Room - with 19 declared dead at the scene.
Among debris found after the blast were 1,675 nyloc nuts, 156 flanged nuts, 663 plain nuts and 11 fragments from Salman Abedi and his victims.
There were also screws recovered by investigators but they were so damaged they couldn't be counted.
Images shown to jurors also feature charred clothing recovered from the scene and labels from vegetable oil used to make the bomb.
Among other debris were fragments from a money tin decorated with the design of a £5 note also used to maim innocent gig-goers.
The youngest victim, Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, suffered more than 70 external injuries, with 17 metal nuts in her body, and died from blood loss due to multiple injuries.
Student Chloe Rutherford, 17, suffered more than 100 injuries, including a brain injury which would have left her immediately unconscious, the court was told.
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Jurors also heard Salman Abedi's body was later recovered in four parts and he had to be identified by his DNA and fingerprints.
Forensic investigators later found more than 2,000 nuts from the homemade bomb at the scene.
After the blast, Hashem Abedi denied he was an extremist but the court heard his DNA was discovered in a Nissan Micra used to store packs of nails for the bomb.
Saman Abedi was captured in CCTV footage returning to the car after his Take That "practice run" four days before the terror attack.
The brothers were born in Manchester to Libyan parents and booked one-way tickets the country in April 2017 after stockpiling chemicals used to make the homemade explosive.
Salman Abedi then returned to his native Manchester on May 18 to carry out the atrocity.
Hashem repeatedly denied any knowledge of his brother’s plot and suggested he had been conned into believing the bomb parts were for household use.
He was arrested by Libyan authorities soon after the attack but an extradition bid proved difficult because of the civil war raging in the North African country.
The Sun on Sunday revealed the extradition bid cost UK taxpayers £123,000.
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Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough said: "If you look at these two brothers, they are not kids caught in the headlights of something they don't understand.
"These two men are the real deal, these are proper jihadis - you do not walk into a space like the Manchester Arena and kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that, taking 22 innocent lives with you, if you are not a proper jihadist.
"He was with his brother throughout the entire process of making this explosive and building this bomb, I believe he provided encouragement right up to the end.
"This was all about the sick ideology of Islamic State and this desire for martyrdom."
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Victoria Higgins, from law firm Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of the bereaved families, said after the verdicts: “Families have waited a long time to see Hashem Abedi face justice for his crimes and I think the overwhelming emotion for most will be one of relief that he cannot hurt anyone else.
“It has been incredibly painful for them to hear, in detail, what happened to their loved ones and the calculated way in which the Abedi brothers plotted to end their lives.”
Abedi will be sentenced at a later date.
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Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi captured on CCTV seconds before terror attack
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