A mother who was at the Ariana Grande concert with her daughter has criticised security checks carried out as they entered the venue.

Dawn Waddy was at the Manchester Arena with her daughter Holly and a friend when the explosion took place and said there should have been more security staff in the arena.

She said: "We walked through the doors when we had our tickets and they scan your tickets and we wasn't even checked.

"They never checked bags at all, I never saw them check anybody's bags."

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Mrs Waddy added she raised concerns over the behaviour of a woman sitting next to them inside the arena.


She told Sky News: "We had somebody sat next to us, looked very suspicious, she was fidgeting all the time with a bag - on the floor, across her - she was by herself.

"She was looking in the direction of where the explosion actually happened all night and smirking to herself."

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Mrs Waddy told security personnel of her concerns and staff monitored the woman but did not take any action.

She said: "They were up and down the stairs where she was sat discreetly watching her. Nothing was actually done about it.

"One to two minutes before the concert finished this lady disappeared and then of course the explosion went off at the other end of the stadium."

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A Czech woman who was also at the concert in Manchester said there was only a cursory search of bags as people entered the arena.

Nikola Trochtova told Czech public radio: "There was almost no security check, rather zero. They let us get in without any check if we have anything with us.

"The only thing they were interested in was if we had any bottles of water with us. They almost didn't check our bags, they didn't take a look."

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Steve Park, an international security analyst who has worked in protecting events including the London 2012 Olympic Games, said the Manchester Arena was a soft target because of all the young people attending the concert.

He told Sky News: "I would imagine this could be a game-changer, especially over the summer period.

"We have a culture of many people going to venues to watch music, watch sport and so forth and it doesn't really matter how big the venue is.

"I imagine there is going to be stringent new bag searches required at these venues, however that does take a great deal of time to orchestrate and can upset people going into venues.

"That is what we're going to see more of, and that will obviously create bottlenecks at the entrances.

"We need to look at tight security at the beginning of the event and the end of the event."

Image: A map showing the Manchester Arena

Mr Park said venues need more staff, particularly female security officers to search women and children.

He added: "The organisers are definitely going to be reviewing the larger venues for the summer."

In a statement, Manchester Arena described the attack as a "senseless tragedy" and added: "Our entire team's thoughts and focus are now on supporting the people affected and their families."

The statement did not address concerns over security at the arena.