Calls for public inquiry into Manchester synagogue terror attack – BBC News
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Chief coroner calls for inquiry into Manchester synagogue attack
Image source: PA images
Image caption: Members of the Jewish community comforted each other after two people were killed in the attack
Published 2 hours ago
The chief coroner overseeing inquests into the deaths of two men killed in the attack on a Manchester synagogue is to ask the government to hold a public inquiry instead.
Judge Alexia Durran, Chief Coroner of England and Wales, said she would write to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to recommend the inquests be converted into a public inquiry after being told some MI5 material could not be heard in open court because of national security concerns.
Inquests were planned into the deaths of Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, following the attack by Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a Syrian-born British citizen, on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester last October.
Inquests have no mechanism to hold secret or private hearings, excluding press and public. To carry out a full investigation, involving hearing sensitive material in private, would require a public inquiry, which can hold some of the hearings behind closed doors with press and public excluded.
Judge Durran made the decision to ask for a public inquiry be established following the pre-inquest hearing on 4 September. At the hearing, lawyers for the government said if the MI5 material was released, it would harm national security.
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