Ex-senior police officer embarrassed at being forced to take taxi to Manchester Arena bombing
Kyle Gordon, who was a superintendent of BTP and is now a commander with the Metropolitan Police, was off-duty and not on-call
15:07, 28 APR 2021
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A former senior British Transport Police (BTP) officer has expressed regret and professional embarrassment after he arrived at Manchester Arena in a taxi nearly three hours after the bombing in 2017 which killed 22 people.
A former senior British Transport Police (BTP) officer has expressed regret and “professional embarrassment” after he arrived at Manchester Arena in a taxi nearly three hours after the bombing in 2017 which killed 22 people.
Kyle Gordon, who was a superintendent of BTP and is now a commander with the Metropolitan Police, was off-duty and not on-call on the night of the terrorist attack on May 22 2017.
He was appointed bronze commander on the night and tasked with co-ordinating events at ground level.
An inquiry into the terror attack heard Commander Gordon was tasked to attend the venue at 11.12pm from his temporary accommodation in Blackpool, and was recorded as being on-scene at 1.23am.
The threat level was raised to “critical” in May 2017 after the Manchester Arena bombing A FORMER senior British Transport Police (BTP) officer has expressed regret and professional embarrassment after he arrived at Manchester Arena in a taxi nearly three hours after the bombing in 2017 which killed 22 people. Kyle Gordon, who was a superintendent of BTP and is now a commander with the Metropolitan Police, was off-duty and not on-call on the night of the terrorist attack on May 22 2017. He was appointed bronze commander on the night and tasked with co-ordinating events at ground level. An inquiry into the terror attack heard Commander Gordon was tasked to attend the venue at 11.12pm from his temporary accommodation in Blackpool, and was recorded as being on-scene at 1.23am.
Police chief breaks down as he expresses regret over appearing in controversial BBC Arena bomb documentary
Kyle Gordon said he shouldn t have got involved in it and described agreeing to be interviewed as an error of judgement on my part that he would not do again .
Updated
The inquiry is investigating the circumstances that led to 22 people being killed (Image: Daily Mirror) A police chief giving evidence at the ongoing public inquiry into the Arena attack appeared to break down as he expressed regret over his involvement in a BBC documentary titled Manchester: The Night of the Bomb , which aired in June, 2018, 13 months after the atrocity.
Kyle Gordon was off-duty and not on-call on night of 2017 Manchester blast
He was made bronze commander for the attack and told to arrive at 11.12pm
But inquest heard then-BTP superintendent took three hours to arrive at scene
He was delayed by having to retrieve his police radio and had to travel by taxi
Said the incident was of professional embarrassment gave him some regret