Hashem Abedi found guilty of murdering 22 people and injuring hundreds more in Manchester Arena bomb attack

Hashem Abedi, the brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi, who has been found guilty of murder over the bombing that killed 22 people.

Hashem Abedi was not present at the conclusion of his seven-week trial as he continued to attempt to evade responsibility for the carnage of May 22, 2017.

Families of some of the victims in court two of London’s Old Bailey wept as a jury found him guilty on Tuesday of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions after less than five hours of deliberations.

He is facing life behind bars when he is sentenced at a later date.

A memorial to the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing at Victoria Station in Manchester. Hashem Abedi, the brother of suicide bomber Salman Abedi, has been found guilty of murder over the bombing that killed 22 people.

Five people from the North East were among those who died in the attack.

They were Chloe Rutherford, 17, and boyfriend Liam Curry, 19, who were from South Shields, Hartlepool-born Jane Tweddle, 51 and Philip Tron, 32, and his partner’s daughter Courtney Boyle, 19, who were both from Gateshead.

The senior investigating officer has now said Hashem was "every bit as responsible" as his older brother - and may have been the senior figure in the plot, with intentions for further bloodshed around the world - even though he was in Libya when Salman detonated the bomb.

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough said: "If you look at these two brothers, they are not kids caught in the headlights of something they don't understand.

Jane Tweddle died in the Manchester Arena bombings.

"These two men are the real deal, these are proper jihadis - you do not walk into a space like the Manchester Arena and kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that, taking 22 innocent lives with you, if you are not a proper jihadist.

"He was with his brother throughout the entire process of making this explosive and building this bomb, I believe he provided encouragement right up to the end.

"This was all about the sick ideology of Islamic State and this desire for martyrdom."

He said he was certain that Hashem took a final four-minute phone call from Salman on the evening the bomb went off.

Chloe Rutherford and Liam Rutherford were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

Mr Barraclough, who was assigned to the case within an hour of the attack, added: "At that point he (Salman) is getting that last-minute inspiration (from Hashem) - that last-minute advice - and he's telling him what he's about to do.

"These two brothers are literally hand in glove in this process."

Prosecutor Duncan Penny had said that Hashem, 22, was "just as guilty" as his brother of the attack after an Ariana Grande concert which killed 22 men, women and children aged between eight and 51.

From January 2017, the brothers set about buying nuts and screws for shrapnel and ordering chemicals from Amazon to make the homemade TATP explosives, with unwitting help from friends and relatives.

The brothers used 11 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.

They also secured two separate addresses away from their home in Elsmore Road, Fallowfield, Manchester - one to take delivery of the components and the other for a bomb-making factory.

Returning from a family trip to Libya alone, Salman bought a rucksack, more shrapnel, constructed his bomb in a rented flat in central Manchester, and carried out reconnaissance missions.

Jurors were shown chilling CCTV footage of Salman travelling to the foyer of the Arena, before detonating his bomb at 10.31pm on May 22, just as crowds left the venue.