The father of a victim of the Manchester Arena bombing has called one of the men found guilty of the atrocity a “coward” for failing to attend court.

Daryl Price, whose son John Atkinson was killed in the blast, said when he heard the guilty verdict on Hashem Abedi “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,” he said.

“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.”

On Tuesday Abedi, from Manchester, was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.

During the seven-week Old Bailey trial, he declined to give evidence, refused to sit in the dock and sacked his defence team.

Mr Atkinson, 28, also from the city, was among 22 men, women and children aged between eight and 51 who were killed in the May 2017 terror attack.

He was in the venue’s foyer when Abedi’s brother Salman, 22, detonated a homemade bomb packed with deadly shrapnel at 10.31pm.

Mr Atkinson died of his injuries soon after midnight.

His friend Gemma O’Donnell survived but was very seriously injured.

The court heard how Hashem Abedi, also 22, was just as guilty of the outrage as his older brother, who police believe called him in Libya en route to the Arena for last-minute encouragement.

He was involved in the planning and preparation, and helped source two of the three chemicals to make TATP explosives, jurors heard.

He was arrested by Libyan militia within 24 hours of the bombing and, in an unprecedented move, British authorities succeeded in securing his extradition last year.

Source: Read Full Article