Quote:The brother of the Manchester Arena terrorist has been given legal aid - but his victims haven't.

Hashem Abedi, 22, will be represented by state lawyers when he goes to trial accused of 22 counts of murder for each of the victims killed.

But the families of the children and their parents murdered as they left the Ariana Grande concert in May 2017 have been denied taxpayer money to help their cases.

The shocking revelation was made at a pre-inquest hearing into the death of their loved ones, reports The Sun.

In court in Manchester on Friday the victims' lawyer Paul Greaney QC told coroner Sir John Saunders: 'Bereaved families are experiencing difficulties in obtaining funding from the Legal Aid Agency.'

It echoes the problems experienced by families of the London Bridge terror attack's victims, who were also denied state legal funding.

Brendan Cox, whose wife, Labour MP Jo, was killed by far-right extremist Thomas Mair, branded the decision 'twisted'.

Families of the victims of Salman Abedi's suicide bomb have allegedly been told not to speak publicly about their ordeal ahead of the inquest, due to start in April.

Hashem has already been represented by Zafar Ali QC and Richard Wright QC at two separate court appearances.

His solicitors are Yasmin and Shaid, who are based in Leeds and have previously run up bills defending terrorists of more than £3million.

The Ministry of Justice argues all defendants have the right to legal aid if they cannot afford lawyers in a criminal trial.

But the government department says bereaved families at inquest's do not have the same rights and therefore do not automatically qualify.

A spokesman claimed they still could be granted funding ahead of the inquest in April.

They told MailOnline: 'We understand how distressing the inquest process will be for the relatives of those who died in the Manchester Arena bombing and we're making changes to ensure there is more legal support for bereaved families.

'However, our review of legal aid showed that representation for bereaved families is not necessary for the vast majority of inquests – they are designed to establish the truth and learn lessons, rather than apportion blame in an adversarial way.

'Families are also given a special status at inquests which means they do not have to make legal arguments and can question witnesses themselves or request that coroners do so on their behalf.

'Without legal representation a defendant could have grounds to appeal and any conviction could be quashed.'

Hashem Abedi, who is from Manchester but found in Libya, will go on trial at the Old Bailey on November 5 charged with 22 counts of murder - one for each of the attack's victims.

He is also accused of one count of attempted murder encompassing all the other victims and one count of conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.

Abedi is accused of making successful and unsuccessful attempts to buy bomb-making chemicals.

It is also said he assisted in buying a Nissan Micra to store device components and that he made detonator tubes for use in the explosive.

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22dead? A Kalashnikov or an AR?

Wait, aren't guns banned in the UK?

So basically this is the equivalent of a defendant getting a public defender in the US, right?

Screw this guy, hopefully they bury him under the jail, but not sure what the issue is here?

The murderer in El Paso is guaranteed a lawyer to help with his defense. If my brother was shot by him, am I guaranteed a free lawyer? Not sure what I would even need one for, outside a civil case.