The mother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber pocketed benefits worth more than £17,000 after leaving Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Despite returning to her native Libya in October 2016, terrorist sympathiser Samia Tabbal continued to receive about £2,500 a month in housing and child benefit and work and tax credits into her HSBC bank account. 

The taxpayer-funded payments stopped just days after Salman Abedi’s son, Salman, killed 22 people in a suicide attack at an Ariana Grande concert. It may have continued if it wasn’t for the subsequent police investigation that found Tabbal and Ramadan Abedi back in Libya.

The mother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber pocketed benefits worth more than £17,000 after leaving Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

The mother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber pocketed benefits worth more than £17,000 after leaving Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal

Despite returning to her native Libya in October 2016, terrorist sympathiser Samia Tabbal continued to receive about £2,500 a month in housing and child benefit and work and tax credits into her HSBC bank account

Despite returning to her native Libya in October 2016, terrorist sympathiser Samia Tabbal continued to receive about £2,500 a month in housing and child benefit and work and tax credits into her HSBC bank account

The 55-year-old’s benefits bonanza is revealed in official documents submitted to the Manchester Arena Inquiry that suggest she failed to inform HM Revenue & Customs that she was leaving the UK. 

A financial report says she received £692.32 a month in housing benefit for her rented property in the Fallowfield area of Manchester, along with weekly child benefit of £61.80 and weekly work and tax credits of £302.76. 

The payments ceased on May 31, 2017 – nine days after the Arena attack.

An Old Bailey jury heard earlier this year from Hashem, Salman’s younger brother, that Tabbal used her debit card to purchase ingredients for the bomb. 

After being convicted on 22 counts of murder, Hashem was sentenced to at least 55 years in prison.

Tabbal is not implicated in the Arena attack. However, there is no evidence Tabbal knew about it. The inquiry has heard that Tabbal expressed sympathy for the Libya Shield Force and the February 17th Martyrs Brigade of Libya, two groups that are linked to Al Qaeda on Facebook.

Tabbal and Ramadan Abedi were reportedly found living in Tripoli, near the capital of Libya. They are under surveillance. 

A senior MI5 officer said last week that Ramadan had influenced his son’s extremist beliefs. He denied knowledge or links to Islamist militant organizations.

The couple and their oldest child, Ismail, flew out to the UK on August 29, apparently to avoid giving evidence in the inquiry.

The dossier of financial documents also show that Salman Abedi received £10,331 into two bank accounts between October 2016 and May 2017, including £4,263.08 from the Student Loans Company that he did not qualify for because he had quit his business studies course at Salford University.

Two separate deposits totalling £3,200 were made by unknown sources into his RBS account in January 2017, shortly before the bank closed it over suspicions about fraud. 

The taxpayer-funded payments only stopped days after her son, Salman Abedi (pictured), killed 22 people by detonating a suicide bomb at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017

The taxpayer-funded payments stopped only days after Salman Abedi (pictured), her son, killed 22 people in a suicide bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017, by Salman Abedi (pictured).

It may have gone on had the subsequent police investigation not established that Tabbal and her husband Ramadan Abedi were back living in Libya

It could have continued if it wasn’t for the subsequent police investigation which failed to establish that Tabbal and Ramadan Abedi had been back in Libya.

The inquiry was launched in September 2020. Sir John Saunders is its chairman and has already ruled against’serious security deficiencies’ that contributed to the devastation caused.

HMRC, which pays the benefits said that it could not comment on individual case.

Separately, SalmanAbedi’s friend was also arrested last week on terror charges related to an attack. He told the inquiry that messages-app conversations between the men shortly prior to the bombing were about the import of sheep.

Challenged about the messages on Thursday – a week after he was arrested at Manchester Airport – Ahmed Taghdi said: ‘During one call, Salman asked me if I could search how much sheep were for sale and could I get him some sheep to send to Libya.’

Mr Taghdi (24), has been released on bail pending further inquiries. He helped Salman Abedi to buy a Nissan Micra car, in which the chemicals used to make bombs were stored.

Mr Taghdi denied any involvement in the attack.