The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi helped make the devastating improvised device which claimed the lives of 22 people and was 'just as guilty' of the atrocity as his older brother, a jury was told.
Hashem Ramadan Abedi, 22, bought screws and nails to use as shrapnel and also purchased two of the three 'precursor chemicals' required to make the TATP explosive used in 2017 bombing, the court heard.
His brother Salman was 'in the midst' of those departing the venue and killed himself and 22 others when he detonated a bomb in his backpack in the foyer as concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande gig at Manchester Arena.
Members of the families affected by the bombing watched from the public gallery in court 2 at the Old Bailey in London as prosecutor Duncan Penny began to outline the case for the Crown and described the devastating consequences of the blast.
"The effects of the resulting explosion were both sudden and lethal", he said.
Some 22 people were killed including 'men, women, teenagers and a child' and another 63 were 'seriously injured'.
Some 111 were taken to hospital and 237 others were hurt. Some 670 people reported 'psychological trauma' while police had identified nearly 1,000 victims, he told the jury.
Mr Penny said: "The prosecution case is that this defendant is just as guilty of the murder of the 22 people killed as was his brother.
"He is equally guilty of the attempted murder of many others and in doing so he was guilty of agreeing with his brother to cause an explosion or explosions of a nature likely to endanger life.
"Those allegations are reflected in the indictment in respect of which he is now in your charge."
"In acting as he did the Crown allege that this defendant assisted and encouraged his brother to act as his brother did intending to assist and encourage," he said.
He intended 'to kill and maim and to injure as many people as possible'.
The QC said the defendant, with his brother Salman, obtained 'precursor chemicals' for use in a bomb - sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide - and 'experimented with metal containers' to make detonators.
The pair used a Nissan Micra to store bomb-making items and a Toyota Aygo for their plot and had addresses at Granby Row in the centre of Manchester, where Salman Abedi was said to have assembled the device, and a flat on the 12th-floor of Somerton Court, the latter where the bomb could be 'manufactured and stored', the court heard.
They bought 'screws and nails' to act as shrapnel to maximise harm to their victims, according to the Crown.
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The QC went on: "This explosion was the culmination of months of planning, experimentation and preparation by the two of them.
"The defendant through his conduct encouraged and assisted his brother Salman to carry out this attack. The bomb which was detonated was self-evidently designed to kill and maim as many people as possible."
"It was packed with lethal shrapnel and it was detonated in the middle of a crown in a very public area - the intention being to kill and inflict maximum damage," he said.
The QC went on: "At 22.31 he detonated the bomb. In doing so, he killed 22 members of the public and injured many more who were in the immediate vicinity, some of them very seriously indeed."
Salman Abedi's body was 'dismembered' in the blast, the court was told.
The identity of the bomber was established 'within hours' and a picture emerged of his movements in the days and weeks before the attack, the court was told.
The resulting investigation led officers to the Abedi family home in Elsmore Road in Fallowfield where they found cut up pieces of retail sized 20-litre vegetable oil tins, featuring the defendant's fingerprints, in the garden shed for use in prototype bombs, according to the prosecution.
A twisted piece of metal from such a tin was also found at the scene of the bombing, it was said.
The jurors were told that Salman Abedi was heard talking about 'jihad' when he was with Hashem Abedi on March 2, 2017, as the alleged preparation for the attack was in progress.
Salman Abedi was said to have told a student who was there: "Do chemistry so you can build a bomb."
The prosecutor, Mr Penny, told the court: "All of this was said in the presence of Salman's brother Hashem who later claimed that he had no inkling of the radicalisation of his brother and that he believed that his brother required the acid for family reasons rather than for the purposes of terrorism."
