Manchester Arena Inquiry: Police's emergency plan 'was out of date'

The police emergency plan for Manchester Arena was nearly a year out of date when the venue was bombed, an officer has told the attack inquiry.

Emergency planner PC Katrina Hughes said she had struggled to keep plans up to date before the attack on 22 May 2017, which killed 22 people.

She told the Manchester Arena Inquiry that budget cuts at Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were to blame.

The inquiry was told plans have been reviewed every three years.

In her statement, PC Hughes said it had been "an unachievable task to review all plans before they expired".

She said she had raised the issue with a senior officer in 2016, but nothing had changed.

The hearing was told the arena contingency plan from June 2013 was eventually updated and improved in December 2017, seven months after the attack by suicide bomber Salman Abedi which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.

The inquiry also heard from the National Football Museum's David Scally, who said on the night of the attack, there had been about 200 people at an event at his venue, which stands close to the arena.

He said a pre-arranged counter-terrorism plan was enacted "as soon as the explosion was heard" and guests were kept in the building for two hours until released by police.

The inquiry continues.

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