'Manchester bomb suspect tried to get me to buy explosives', court told

The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his father discouraged him from aiding Hashem Abedi's request to source materials online because he had concerns about it being used to make bombs.

Abedi's brother, Salman, detonated his bomb on May 22 2017, killing 22 and injuring hundreds of others as thousands of men, women and children left the Ariana Grande pop concert.

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

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

Hashem was arrested in Libya, where he was allegedly tortured, before being sent back to the UK to face police questions amid prosecution claims he was complicit in sourcing and stockpiling components for the bomb.

Hashem denies 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.

Giving evidence in person at the Old Bailey, the witness said he "believed" Hashem when he allegedly asked him to buy sulphuric acid from Amazon, using his own account.

He said: "I remember the exact place, he told me some b******t story about a generator.

"He said that his brother tipped a battery and the generator stopped working. He asked me very kindly.

"He just asked me for a favour. I didn’t want to let him down so I said yes."

But the witness said he had no money so asked his dad to help.

Prosecutor Duncan Penny asked him: "Did your father tell you that he was concerned about acid because it can be used to manufacture explosives?"

The witness replied: "Yes. I asked him to buy it. Straight away (he) refused it.

"He said 'this is dodgy, don't buy this online'."

Asked why, the witness said it was because Hashem was "from Manchester" and added that his father was concerned it could be used to make explosives.

The witness said he "100% believed" Hashem's reason for sourcing the acid, telling the court: "It wasn't that I thought he was going to do something dodgy."

The witness said Hashem repeatedly tried to contact him over the following days.

He said: "I just didn’t want to. I felt like I let him down.

"I didn’t want to face him on the phone in case he was disappointed in me because Hashem used to do a lot of favours for me."

He added: "I didn’t have a clue this would happen."

The witness told jurors that he first encountered Hashem at a party in 2015.

He said Hashem initially dressed in western clothes but after he visited Saudi Arabia in 2015 Hashem subsequently returned "more religious" and advised his friend to pray more, jurors heard.