Manchester Arena bombing trial jurors begin deliberations

The judge, Justice Jeremy Baker, sent the eight men and three women on the jury out to start their discussions at 3.15pm on Monday, seven weeks into the trial at the Old Bailey.

The jury was sent home at 3.30pm and will resume deliberations on Tuesday.

Manchester-born Hashem Abedi, 22, is accused of murder, attempted murder and conspiring with his older sibling to cause explosions.

It was Salman, then 22, who set off a suicide bomb as thousands of men, women and children left an Ariana Grande pop concert at Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017.

A total of 22 victims aged between eight and 51 were killed in the blast, as thousands of pieces of shrapnel pelted the bodies of innocent bystanders, many of whom were standing at close range and were swiftly knocked unconscious.

Among those killed were Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, from Adel, Leeds; Courtney Boyle, 19, a Leeds Beckett University student from Gateshead; Kelly Brewster, 32, from Sheffield; Wendy Fawell, 50, from Otley; and Angelika and Marcin Klis, a couple from York.

Also in crime: Hushed courtroom hears about final movements of Leeds victims of Manchester Arena bombing

The court heard the Abedis targeted their network of friends in Manchester's Libyan community to help buy chemicals from Amazon, delivered to a variety of homes across the city, and stockpiled at safehouses.

The brothers constantly swapped between 11 different mobile phones in five months - some in play for as little as two hours - and used a variety of runaround vehicles, despite neither passing their driving test, to transport components around the city, the court was told.

Prosecutors said the brothers' plans were briefly scuppered when their parents insisted they join them in returning to Libya in April 2017, forcing the brothers to stockpile their murderous wares in a second-hand Nissan Micra, bought for £250 the day before they left the UK.

Salman spent less than a month in Libya before flying back to the UK, where he bought a rucksack, more shrapnel, and constructed his bomb in a one-bedroom short-term let in central Manchester.

Four days after arriving in the UK, he detonated the bomb. Hashem was arrested in Libya less than 48 hours later.

Prosecutors said he was inextricably linked by DNA and fingerprint evidence, data from a slew of mobile phones, eye witness accounts and CCTV footage.

Duncan Penny QC, for the crown, said the brothers "stood shoulder to shoulder" in their attempts to source chemicals for the bomb.

Addressing jurors on Friday, the judge urged them to deliberate over the evidence "with dispassion and objectivity", putting aside any "sympathy for the family and friends" of the victims and survivors.

Also in crime: Brother of Manchester Arena bomber 'helped to make explosives', Old Bailey jurors told

Abedi was not present in court on Monday, having sacked his defence team and "withdrawing" from the trial last week, without taking to the witness box.

However, the court was read sections of a prepared statement given by Abedi to police upon his extradition to the UK last summer, during which he denied any knowledge of the plot, saying he "would have reported it to my mother initially and then to other family members to prevent it from happening".