MANCHESTER MASSACRE: United Kingdom terror threat level raised to critical

The United Kingdom terror threat level has been raised to its highest level of “critical”, meaning further attacks may be imminent, Theresa May has said.

The move came after investigators were unable to rule out whether Manchester bombing suspect Salman Abedi acted alone, the prime minister said.

Military personnel will now be deployed to protect key sites.

Twenty-two people were killed and 59 injured when a suicide bomber attacked Manchester Arena on Monday evening.

The prime minister said soldiers would be placed in key public locations to support armed police in protecting the public.

Military personnel may also be seen at other events over the coming weeks, such as concerts, Mrs May said, working under the command of police officers.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the number of UK troops deployed will be in the hundreds not around the 5,000 figure being reported.

The prime minister said she did not want the public to feel “unduly alarmed” but said it was a “proportionate and sensible response”.

The highest threat level, which is decided by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – a group of experts from the police, government departments and agencies – has only been reached twice before.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, who is the national counter-terrorism policing lead, said the investigation was “fast-moving and making good progress”.

“However, a critical line of inquiry is whether the dead terrorist was acting alone or part of a group,” he said.

“We still have critical lines of inquiry they’re chasing down which has led to a level of uncertainty.”

The first time the threat level was raised to critical was in 2006 during a major operation to stop a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs.

Eight-year-old Saffie Roussos and Georgina Callander are among the dead

The following year, security chiefs raised it once more as they hunted for the men who had tried to bomb a London nightclub, before going on to attack Glasgow Airport.

Former Salford University student Salman Abedi – understood to be a 22-year-old born in Manchester to parents of Libyan descent – is thought to have blown himself up in the arena’s foyer shortly after 22:30 BST on Monday.

Fans were beginning to leave a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.

Three of his victims have been named – Saffie Rose Roussos, eight, Georgina Callander – thought to be 18 – and John Atkinson, 28.

So-called Islamic State has said – via IS channels on the messaging app Telegram – it was behind the Manchester attack, but this has not been verified.

Theresa May accuses the EU of trying to influence the UK Election

UNITED KINGDOM – THERESA MAY has launched a scathing attack on the EU by accusing them of deliberately trying to undermine our election with cynically-timed threats on Brexit.

The Prime Minister hit back as she returned to Downing Street after a meeting with the Queen that formally kicked off the five-week election period.

In a blistering attack on EU politicians on the steps of Downing Street, she said: “There are some in Brussels who do not want these talks to succeed… Who do not want Britain to prosper.”

Kicking off 36 days of campaigning with a bang, she said that Britain’s “negotiating position has been misrepresented in the continental press” – after reports emerged in German newspapers over the weekend which referred to a supposedly disastrous Brexit dinner at Downing Street.

She went on to slam both European politicians AND officials for issuing “threats against Britain”.

“Whoever wins on 8 June will face one overriding task: to get the best possible deal for this United Kingdom from Brexit,” she said, slapping down Brussels chiefs.

“All of these acts have been deliberately timed to affect the result of the General Election that will take place on 8 June.

“By contrast I made clear that in leaving the European Union, Britain means no harm.

“We continue to believe no deal is better than a bad deal.”

The PM fired a broadside at the “bureaucrats of Brussels” who are trying to derail Brexit, as she warned voters that only she was able to take them on.

She said: “If we don’t get the negotiation right, your economic security and prosperity will be put at risk and the opportunities you seek for your families will simply not happen.

“If we do not stand up and get this negotiation right we risk the secure and well-paid jobs we want for our children and our children’s children too.

“If we don’t get the negotiation right, if we let the bureaucrats of Brussels run over us, we will lose the chance to build a fairer society with real opportunity for all.”

And Mrs May warned that if Jeremy Corbyn were to negotiate our Brexit, “we will all pay a high price”.

“If instead you want the best negotiation for you and for Britain, then you must make your vote count,” she urged.

Brit held over death of hen do reveller in Benidorm accused of sex attack in UK

A BRIT arrested over the death plunge of a Benidorm hen-do reveller was accused of a sex attack in the UK, it was revealed yesterday.

Newlywed Kirsty Maxwell, 27, died in a fall from the balcony of a tenth-storey apartment she is believed to have walked into by mistake after a boozy night out.

And mystery deepened yesterday as the suspect’s past was disclosed — amid claims Kirsty may have leapt in terror towards the holiday block’s pool.

The 32-year-old man who let her in as he partied with five friends was quizzed by cops after he admitted he had been investigated over sex offences back home.

Police said the suspect — named only as Joseph — was released on bail and allowed to fly to the UK yesterday after spending two nights in a police cell.

He was arrested with pals, who admitted being on booze and drugs, on suspicion of homicide and hauled before a judge following the tragedy at around 8am on Saturday.

The sex allegation is not thought to have resulted in a conviction but has been described as a factor in the Spanish police decision to detain him.

He admitted during police questioning he had been arrested in the UK over a false allegation which never went to court.

Grim pictures of the death scene emerged yesterday which showed Kirsty landed within inches of the Apartamentos Payma block’s pool.

One theory being probed was that she tried to leap 100 feet into the water to escape the men after panicking following her hen night with more than 30 pals.

Other claims circulating last night alleged police believe she may have been thrown towards the pool by several men in a boozy prank, or that she had been sleepwalking.