Ismail Abedi, 28, whose whereabouts are unknown, had refused to co-operate with the inquiry but was ordered by the chairman, Sir John Saunders, to attend to give evidence. He was due to stand trial at Manchester Crown Court on Thursday under another name he used, Ishmale Ben Romdhan, but did not attend. He was found guilty by District Judge Jack McGarva of failing without reasonable excuse to do something required by a section 21 notice. The judge adjourned the case until August 2 and said that if Abedi did not appear, then a warrant would be issued for his arrest at the hearing. He said: “The court is obliged to consider the possibility of a custodial sentence. There is a very high level of public interest in ensuring that people cooperate with public inquiries.” He said Abedi could have provided evidence on “some really key points that the families of the deceased would have really appreciated if they had answered”. Nicholas de la Poer QC, prosecuting, said: “The prosecution argue that you can be sure from the date that the defendant from the first was determined not to co-operate with the investigation. “He has confused, he has clouded, he has thrown up every obstacle he could think of. When these failed, he left the jurisdiction. “At the end of the day it comes down to this: He was legally required to attend, he didn’t attend, and there’s no good reason why he shouldn’t attend.” The court heard that Abedi had previously said he did not want to answer the inquest’s questions because he was concerned about the risk of self-incrimination, had already been questioned by police and was worried about his and his family’s safety. But District Judge McGarva found he had no reasonable excuse for not attending. The court heard Abedi was stopped by police at Manchester Airport on August 28 last year and told them he planned to return to the UK next month. He left the country the next day and is not believed to have returned. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Kim Harrison, lead solicitor at Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of the victims’ families, said: “While we welcome the sentencing of Ismail Abedi today, we remain very disappointed that the sentencing had to take place in his absence. “The families deserve to know the truth about what happened that night and the contempt shown to them by Ismail Abedi is truly despicable.” The IT worker was described as a key witness for the investigation, able to answer questions about the radicalization of his younger brothers, Salman, who carried out the suicide attack that killed 22 people on May 22, 2017, and Hashem, who has been jailed for life for his involvement in the bomb plot. The inquest heard he also had potential clues to the preparation of the bomb as his DNA was found on a hammer in a car used to store explosives. He had already been stopped in 2015 at Heathrow Airport and his phone was found to have a “significant” amount of “very disturbing” material described as “Islamic State mentality”.
