![\"Manchester](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Manchester-Arena-attack-survivor-Martin-Hibbert-PA.jpg\")
Manchester Arena attack survivor Martin Hibbert(Image: PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/p>\nManchester Arena bomb survivor Martin Hibbert has spoken of his fury after Hashem Abedi’s prison attack<\/p>\n
06:45, 16 Apr 2025Updated 07:10, 16 Apr 2025<\/p>\n
Manchester Arena attack survivor Martin Hibbert(Image: PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/p>\n
The assault on prison officers by Manchester bomb plotter Hashem Abedi<\/a> has been branded a “catastrophic failure” of duty by the Justice Secretary, according to a letter from one of the survivors.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced it will conduct a review following the incident at HMP Frankland in County Durham, where three guards were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons.<\/a><\/p>\n In response, the MoJ has suspended access to kitchens in separation and close supervision units, where prisoners are isolated from the general population.<\/p>\n But in an open letter to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and the MoJ, Arena survivor Martin Hibbert said he was “absolutely disgusted \u2013 beyond words” to hear about the attack.<\/p>\n He wrote: “Let’s call this what it is: a catastrophic failure of your duty to protect prison staff and the public from an unrepentant terrorist.<\/p>\n Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n “Not only was Abedi allowed the freedom to move around and use facilities that should never be available to someone like him – he was able to track and target three prison guards using boiling oil and homemade weapons.”<\/p>\n Mr Hibbert suffered life-changing injuries at the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 where he was left with a spinal cord injury. His daughter Eve suffered severe brain damage in the attack, which killed 22 people.<\/p>\n “I was told justice would be served. What I see now is not justice. It’s a shameful lack of accountability and basic prison security,” said Mr Hibbert.<\/p>\n “I’m not just angry. I’m broken by this. And I am furious that the pain of survivors like me is being so blatantly disrespected by your inaction.”<\/p>\n He demanded that Abedi be stripped of access to any areas where he could make or find weapons.<\/p>\n “This cannot continue. Something drastic needs to be done. Not tomorrow. Not next month. Now,” he wrote.<\/p>\n “Because right now, it feels like you’ve forgotten us.”<\/p>\n His remarks follow a letter sent to the Justice Secretary by families of five victims<\/a> \u2013 Megan Hurley, Eilidh Macleod, Chloe Rutherford, Liam Curry, and Kelly Brewster \u2013 which expressed their “absolute disbelief” at the attack, as reported by the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n The broadcaster said it had seen the letter, which read: “In our view, he should not be allowed any privileges whatsoever while serving a sentence for the deaths of 22 innocent lives and the injuring of many more.<\/p>\n “He should not have access to anything that he can weaponise, such as hot oil or items he can turn into blades.”<\/p>\n The families are urging for Abedi to be placed in permanent solitary confinement.<\/p>\n Abedi planned and prepared the attack with his brother, the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, and was extradited from Libya to the UK where he was sentenced to a record 55-year minimum term before he could be considered for parole in 2020 for 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester Arena bomb survivor Martin Hibbert has spoken of his fury after Hashem Abedi’s prison attack 06:45, 16…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,14214,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-25322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-arena","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114348841037574799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Undated-handout-file-photo-issued-by-Greater-Manchester-Police-of-Manchester-Arena-bomb-plotter-Ha.jpeg\")
Hashem Abedi(Image: PA Media)<\/p>\n