Suicide bomber ‘smiling’ as he murdered 22 innocent people

Abedi, 22, was also on his mobile phone as he made his “final walk” after waiting for crowds to emerge at the end of an Ariana Grande gig at Manchester Arena.

Showsec security guard at the Arena on the night, Mohammed Agha, told the inquiry in Manchester: “He was on a phone, a mobile phone, he was smiling.”

Seconds later Abedi detonated his device, packed with 3,000 nuts and bolts.

He had been hiding at the back of the City Room, the foyer to the a rena, before heading for the entrance doors of the venue as people emerged at the end of the gig at 10.30pm on May 22 2017.

Mr Agha told the inquiry he had seen Abedi, dressed in black and carrying a big, bulky rucksack, three times earlier that night but did not think him suspicious until minutes before the bombing when he agreed it “crossed his mind” Abedi might be a suicide bomber.

He denied he “fobbed off” a member of the public, Christopher Wild, who came to him to report his suspicions about Abedi around 10.15pm.

Around 15 minutes later Abedi left his position. a CCTV “blind spot”, to detonate his device.

Earlier Mr Agha said he had passed on Mr Wild’s concerns about Abedi to a colleague, Kyle Lawler.

But this was at 10.25, some eight minutes after Mr Wild had first raised his concerns.

Mr Agha, aged 19 at the time of the bombing and being paid the minimum wage of £7.90 an hour, said that night his job was to stand by a fire exit. He had no radio and said if he left his post, except for an emergency, he might lose his job.