Chief coroner calls for inquiry into Manchester synagogue attack
Summary
The chief coroner for England and Wales has asked the government to hold a public inquiry into the attack on a Manchester synagogue where two men died. This request comes because some secret information from MI5 cannot be discussed openly in court during the planned inquests.Key Facts
- Two men, Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, were killed in an attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester last October.
- The attacker, Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen, drove into the synagogue gates and then attacked people with a knife while wearing a fake suicide belt.
- Melvin Cravitz died from knife wounds; Adrian Daulby was shot dead by armed officers arriving at the scene.
- The inquests into their deaths were planned but cannot hear some MI5 information because it is secret and related to national security.
- Inquests are public and cannot exclude the press or public, so secret information cannot be shared there.
- A public inquiry can hold private hearings, allowing secret information to be considered without being made public.
- The chief coroner, Judge Alexia Durran, will ask Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to change the inquests into a public inquiry.
- Government lawyers said releasing the MI5 material publicly would harm national security, but the families questioned why that material is needed, since the attacker was said to be unknown to security services.
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