Section:GDN 1N PaGe:13 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 18:10 cYanmaGentaYellowb
Tuesday 30 July 2019 The Guardian •
National^13
Helen Pidd
North of England editor
Family members of the 22 people killed
in the Manchester Arena bombing
have been struggling to access legal
aid, a court has heard.
The warning came as lawyers for
some of the families told a judge that
they feared information relating to the
failures of the security services, police
and MI5 would be heard in secret
because it was “embarrassing” rather
than because it would truly threaten
national security.
The inquest is not due to start
until April next year, after the trial of
Hashem Abedi, whose older brother,
Salman Abedi , was responsible for the
attack on 22 May 2017.
At a pre-inquest hearing in Man-
chester yesterday, Paul Greaney QC ,
coun sel to the inquest, warned that
some of the bereaved had not yet
obtained legal aid.
“We understand that certain
bereaved families are experiencing
diffi culties obtaining funding from
the Legal Aid Agency. Their legal
representatives have been working
without funds for some time. The
amount of work has been substantial
and it will only get more substantial
as the inquest approaches,” he told Sir
John Saunders , the retired high court
judge who is sitting as coroner for the
inquest.
“There is a clear public interest
in the bereaved families being rep-
resented in order that they can fully
participate,” Greaney added.
Families of those killed in the
London Bridge attack were told last
month it was not in the public inter-
est for them to receive legal aid at the
inquests into the atrocity, while the
widow of the ringleader was entitled
to public funding.
Legal aid is currently means-tested,
and even then it is for limited pur-
poses. Once someone has overcome
that hurdle they must then apply for
“exceptional case funding”, which
puts them at a signifi cant disadvantage
compared with the huge resources
available to state bodies.
The pre-inquest review hearing at
Manchester town hall yesterday heard
that the security services and the
police ha d applied to the judge for cer-
tain pieces of sensitive evidence to be
heard in private using a “public inter-
est immunity” (PII) certifi cate. This
prevents highly sensitive evidence –
often related to security matters – from
being presented in open court.
This is likely to include evidence
from someone referred to at the hear-
ing only as “Witness X”.
But John Cooper QC, represent-
ing the families of many of those who
died, said his clients feared that PII
could be used to simply hide embar-
rassing matters rather than those that
truly threatened national security.
“Consideration and evaluation of
the preventative measures and steps
taken by the police and the security
services is at the heart of your factual
inquiry,” he told the judge. “National
security must not be confused with
national or personal embarrassment .”
Cooper suggested “the cat is already
out of the bag” that there were failures
by the security services, police and
emergency services in their readiness
and response to the attacks. A report
by David Anderson QC concluded that
MI5 had intelligence about Salman
Abedi whose “true signifi cance was
not appreciated at the time”.Manchester victims’
families ‘struggling
to obtain legal aid’
Lanyon works acquired by nation
to settle tax bill on widow’s estate
Mark Brown
Arts correspondentThree works by Peter Lanyon, one of
the major fi gures of postwar British
painting, have been acquired for the
nation in lieu of inheritance tax.
Arts Council England (ACE)
has announced that an important
abstract landscape painted in the
last year of Lanyon’s life and two
large gouaches ha ve been accepted,
settling just under £900,000 owed on
the estate of Lanyon’s widow, Sheila.The landscape, Clevedon Bandstand
1964 , has been allocated to Tate and
the gouaches separately to Birming-
ham and Liverpool Universities.
Lanyon was Cornish and an impor-
tant member of the second generation
of the St Ives school of artists. He died
aged 46 in 1964 a fter a gliding accident.
Ann Gallagher, the director of col-
lection s for British art at Tate , said
Clevedon Bandstand was Lanyon’s
last major work. “We are thrilled to be
adding this late oil painting by Peter
Lanyon to our collection.”
The Lanyon case is unusual in thatthe value of the paintings exceeded the
tax liability. That led the Sheila Lanyon
estate to waive some of the value of
the three works and Tate to contrib-
ute £72,000 and Liverpool’s Victoria
Gallery & Museum £8,000.
The gouaches are studies for murals
at Liverpool and Birmingham Univer-
sities, although they are very diff erent
from the fi nished articles. They are
also the fi rst works allocated through
the acceptance in lieu (AIL) scheme to
the two universities.
Edward Harley, the chair of the AIL
panel , praised Tate for its contribution
and willingness to store the artworks
while the off er was being considered.
He said: “This example of a national
museum aiding those in the regions
sets an admirable model for others to
follow.” Peter Lanyon’s
oil painting
Clevedon
Bandstand – his
last major work –
will go to Tate
IMAGES: PETER
LANYON ESTATE▼ The two
gouaches go to
the Universities
of Birmingham
(left) and
Liverpool, homes
to the murals for
which they are
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