Manchester Arena families urge the Chair of the Public Inquiry to rethink the approach to Security Services’ evidence

30 September 2020

Manchester Arena Inquiry

On 28 September 2020, Pete Weatherby QC, in an opening speech on behalf of 7 families bereaved by the Manchester Arena atrocity, expressed grave misgivings about the obsessive secrecy surrounding evidence involving the security services and whether the attack could have been prevented.

There has been widespread media coverage of the opening speech, which highlighted the families’ concerns that key sections of the Inquiry are set to take place behind closed doors and without adequate public scrutiny or family participation, and without their lawyers.

Pete Weatherby QC and Anna Morris of Garden Court North, and Harriet Johnson of Doughty Street Chambers represent the 7 families, instructed by Nicola Brook and Elkan Abrahamson of Broudie Jackson Canter and Terry Wilcox of Hudgell’s Solicitors, assisted by Christian Weaver and Mira Hammad of Garden Court North.

You can read more about the opening by following the links to media coverage below, and you can follow the speech on Youtube (at 1h 44m 30s).

Sky News

BBC News

The Times

The Telegraph

Channel 4 News

The Evening Standard

Chambers news

Chambers news

Universal Credit rent deductions scheme declared unlawful by High Court

In R (Roberts) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2025] EWHC 51 (Admin) (16 January 2025) the High Court (Fordham J) decides that the...

Chambers news

Amy Butcher: Coroner identifies “muddled and unclear system for the prescription of medication” and issues Prevention of Future Deaths report to the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care

Amy Butcher was 27 years old when she died by suicide. She was under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Crisis...

Chambers news

Child defendant indicted for the attempted murder of her friend is sentenced to a Youth Rehabilitation Order.

Nina Grahame KC represented a 14-year old girl committed to Minshull Street Crown Court for the attempted murder of her 14-year old friend, possession of...

Chambers news

Court of Appeal dismisses Secretary of State’s appeal in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Versnick and Jarvis-Wingate [2024] EWCA Civ 1454 (29 November 2024)

This case concerned whether an EU national with pre-settled status could rely on benefits paid to his wife, a British citizen, to be entitled to...

Sign up to our mailing list

Our mailing list is dedicated to professionals with an interest in our work.

Sign up