Police held messages between Manchester Arena bomber and terrorist recruiter years before attack, inquiry told

More than 1,000 messages between a 'Salman' and a now-convicted terrorist recruiter were discovered by police in 2014 in a counter-terror operation, but the person wasn't identified as bomber Salman Abedi until after he murdered 22 people at Manchester Arena in 2017, the public inquiry into the atrocity was told.

Some exchanges between Abedi and Abdalraouf Abdallah were 'capable' of revealing Abedi's extremist mindset, the inquiry heard on Monday.

Abedi sent 'selfie' images of himself to Abdallah in mobile phone messages, others referenced his full name and there was also a video of him.

But the information was not highlighted to a counter-terror policing intelligence unit, the inquiry heard.

The detective who led the 2014 probe agreed the 'Salman messages' should have been 'lifted out' of that operation for separate 'intelligence development'.

Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked retired GMP Detective Inspector Frank Morris: "Do you agree, not with the benefit of hindsight, that where you have a person communicating with someone you believe to be a terrorist who is expressing a similar extremist mindset to them, that something should be done at the very least to find out who they are?"

"Yes," replied Mr Morris.

Mr Morris said 'it would not have been the hardest thing to do to find out his real identity' and agreed that had Abedi been identified, the link would have been available to law enforcement agencies.

A Prevent referral could have been considered and Abedi could 'possibly' have been interviewed, he added, but there was no 'intelligence submission' made to the 'operations intelligence management unit' which ran alongside the 2014 terror investigation.

The inquiry has already heard that in the July -