Email address warning of ‘slaughter’ linked to arena bombing accused, court told

An email address bearing the words “we have come to slaughter” in Arabic was used to buy chemicals on Amazon before the Manchester Arena bombing, a court has heard.

Handwritten scraps of paper bearing the email address bedab7jeana@gmail.com were found, torn into pieces, at the family home of Salman and Hashem Abedi in the aftermath of the attack on May 22 2017, which killed 22 and injured hundreds of others, the Old Bailey was told.

Hashem Abedi, the younger brother, is accused of plotting with 22-year-old Salman, who died in the suicide bombing as concert-goers left the Ariana Grande gig.

The defendant, also now 22, denies prosecution allegations that he is “equally guilty” of the atrocity by stockpiling chemicals at a makeshift bomb-making base in north Manchester, sourcing screws and nails for shrapnel.

On Thursday, prosecutor Duncan Penny QC said the bedab7 email address was created on March 20 2017, two months before the blast, while connected to publicly available wifi in the Hulme Market area of south Manchester.

Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) data placed a Toyota car linked to Hashem Abedi to the scene, it was alleged.

Mr Penny said: “After the explosion, the same email address was found on handwritten torn-up pieces of paper in one of the bins at the Elsmore Road address.

“Translated, ‘bedabjeana’ means ‘To slaughter we have come’, or ‘We have come to slaughter’.”

On April 3, the email address was provided to Amazon to buy 30 litres of hydrogen peroxide – one of the three ingredients needed for the homemade explosive TATP, the court heard.

Jurors were told Hashem Abedi had previously approached friends and acquaintances for help to buy chemicals online using their Amazon accounts with varying success.

On March 15 2017, an Amazon account belonging to his friend Mohammed Younis Soliman was used to order 10 litres of sulphuric acid, jurors heard.

Mr Penny said £140 in cash was later paid into Mr Soliman’s account.

On March 23, Mr Soliman’s phone was examined and digitally downloaded when he was stopped at Manchester Airport, jurors heard.

Mr Penny told jurors: “Later on, when these matters were being investigated, a link between Soliman, his purchase of 10 litres of sulphuric acid and the brothers Hashem Abedi and Salman Abedi was identified.

“It was clearly no coincidence that someone with links to the brothers was being used to purchase sulphuric acid in large quantities and on their behalf.

“The sulphuric acid cost £128.46 including delivery. You’ll remember that on March 15, £140 had been paid into Soliman’s account.”

The examination of Mr Soliman’s phone revealed the defendant’s numbers were stored as Hashem Alabedi and Hashem, the court heard.

Mr Penny said acquiring large quantities of chemicals risked raising “awkward questions in even the most gullible people”.

So the Abedi brothers needed a better way of avoiding suspicion and set up a delivery address for receipt of the chemicals by using an unoccupied terrace house at 44 Lindum Street in Rusholme, south Manchester.

The occupant of the house, Ahmad Hamad, a man of Libyan heritage, was abroad and a fellow Libyan, Ahmed Dughman, looked after the property.

He was told the Abedi brothers needed to stay at the house for a few days as they had visitors in their own home and the keys were handed over, the court was told.

An Amazon account was then set up to order chemicals to be delivered to the address.

Hashem, originally from Manchester, denies the murder of 22 men, women and children aged between eight and 51.

He also denies attempted murder and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.

The 22 people who were killed were: off-duty police officer Elaine McIver, 43, Saffie Roussos, eight, Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, Eilidh MacLeod, 14, Nell Jones, 14, Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, Megan Hurley, 15, Georgina Callander, 18, Chloe Rutherford, 17, Liam Curry, 19, Courtney Boyle, 19, Philip Tron, 32, John Atkinson, 28, Martyn Hett, 29, Kelly Brewster, 32, Angelika Klis, 39, Marcin Klis, 42, Michelle Kiss, 45, Alison Howe, 44, Lisa Lees, 43, Wendy Fawell, 50, and Jane Tweddle, 51.