Manchester Arena: Others 'probably knew' what bomber Salman Abedi 'intended to do' and he was 'likely provided with help'

The final report from the Manchester Arena public inquiry into the terrorist attack reveals 'people in Libya probably knew' what suicide bomber Salman Abedi 'intended to do'.

The revelation marks a shift from a previously held position of MI5 that no one other than Abedi and his now jailed brother Hashem were aware of the plot.

Sir John Saunders, the inquiry's chairman, pointed to unnamed and unknown people in Libya, where the brothers visited throughout their lives. He also ruled it was 'likely' the Abedis received practical instruction on how to assemble an improvised explosive device and how to 'avoid detection' while in Libya.

In a statement delivered after the publication of Sir John's third and final report - which found missed opportunities on the part of security service MI5 to stop the terror attack and delved into the circumstances behind the bomber's radicalisation - he said: "During the time Salman Abedi and Hashem Abedi spent in Libya, during which they were probably involved in fighting, they are likely to have come into contact with a number of violent extremists.

"It is likely that those extremists included members of the Islamic State who would be in a position to provide the brothers with expertise in making of bombs and in carrying out counter-surveillance measures. As leading counsel for the inquiry said during one of the hearings: how was someone of Salman Abedi's limited intelligence and abilities able to succeed in committing this atrocity despite any safeguards which were in place?

"The likely answer is he was provided with help."

The report said Abedi's 'radicalisation journey into operational violent Islamist extremism' was driven by 'noxious absences and malign presences'.

The absences refer