Manchester Arena bomber spoke to two stewards hours before walking past them with bomb
TWO stewards spoke to the Manchester Arena bomber two hours before he walked past them with a bomb, the inquiry has heard.
CCTV showed Salman Abedi, 22, stop to talk to the Showsec workers on his final recce at 6.35pm.
At 8.50pm, Abedi returned to the arena along the footbridge from Victoria Station, this time carrying a heavy rucksack on his back.
He left again 19 minutes later but by 9.33pm he was back in the City Room foyer, where he waited on a raised area for the concert to finish an hour later when he detonated his device, killing 22 men, women and children.
Eight minutes before the blast that killed 22, one steward spoke to a guard contacted by a witness concerned about Abedi praying.
Images were also shown of two cops who appeared to fetch a takeaway, reappearing 40 minutes later.
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And two PCSOs missed Abedi by less than a minute after he went to the toilets to prime his device, the inquiry was told.
"Is it fair to say that the two missed each other by less than a minute?" Mr de la Poer said.
"That seems to be the case, yes," Mr Pickering said.
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