Manchester Parents,Still Grieving Daughter’s Death in 2017 Arena Bombing,Express Outrage After Brother of bomber Attacks Prison Guards
MANCHESTER,England – Andrew and Lisa Roussos,whose eight-year-old daughter Saffie-Rose was the youngest of the 22 victims killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing,are grappling with renewed grief and outrage after learning that Hashem Abedi,brother of the suicide bomber,attacked prison officers with makeshift knives and hot oil.The attack, which occurred at HMP Frankland in County Durham, has reopened wounds for the Roussos family, who have long maintained that systemic failures by authorities contributed to Saffie-Rose’s death and continue to endanger the public.
“It’s crackers,” andrew Roussos, 51, told Archyde.com in an exclusive interview. “How does a man like that get access to A, B, and C to allow him to make knives? He’s able to be ther with a pan of hot butter? On what planet is that…”
salman Abedi detonated a backpack bomb at the Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017, as concertgoers were leaving an Ariana Grande performance. Hashem Abedi was later convicted of 22 counts of murder, including Saffie-Rose’s, and sentenced to a minimum of 55 years in prison.
The Roussos family has been critical of authorities,including MI5,for failing to prevent the attack,arguing that warning signs were missed and opportunities to intervene were squandered.”I don’t blame [the abedi brothers],” andrew Roussos said. “Thes people are what they are: extremists, murderers. We shouldn’t be surprised when they try to maim and kill… But I do blame the authorities, because it is their job to stop them.”
Lisa Roussos, 56, echoed her husband’s sentiments, expressing disbelief that a high-security prison could allow such risky materials to be accessible to a convicted terrorist.”It’s another example of feeling that you are just in the middle of this big thing that you don’t understand and that you can’t control,” she said. “You go through life thinking people in authority know what they are doing, that they know how to keep everyone safe. They don’t, and that is terrifying.”
The Roussos family recently co-authored a book about Saffie-Rose and their fight for justice. They have also publicly shared the horrific details they learned during the public inquiry into the bombing, including the fact that Saffie-Rose survived for 69 minutes after the blast and tragically asked for her mother in her final moments.
Andrew Roussos described renovating their home after Saffie-Rose’s death, including demolishing walls with a sledgehammer, as a form of therapy.
The family’s attempt to sue MI5 for negligence failed last year due to the statute of limitations, despite their claim that they were unaware of key facts until the inquiry.
Despite their grief,the Roussos family remains committed to honoring Saffie-Rose’s memory and advocating for systemic changes to prevent future tragedies.
“Lessons learned? You can’t beat the system,” Andrew Roussos said, expressing a weariness with repeated apologies and unfulfilled promises of reform.
