Landlady left in "complete shock" after realising renting apartment to Manchester bomber Salman Abedi

Ruth Bain told police it was three days after the suicide bomb attack at Manchester Arena on May 22 2017 that she recognised the face of her latest tenant.

Abedi used a false name to rent the one-bedroom property in Granby House from May 18, agreeing to pay £750 for a two-week short-term stay.

But four days into the let, the 22-year-old brought destruction and misery to the city by detonating his suicide bomb as thousands of men, women and children left an Ariana Grande concert.

Abedi's younger brother, Hashem, also now 22, is on trial accused on conspiring with Salman over the plot.

In a police statement read in court at the Old Bailey, Ms Bain said she owned and ran several properties in Manchester, advertising them for rent online.

She said she agreed to meet Salman Abedi at the property on May 18 - the day he returned to the UK from Libya - in order for him to view it. Jurors heard he did so using the name "Sam Abdi".

She said: "I showed him into the apartment. I got the impression he wasn't particularly interested - he wasn't asking questions or making any positive comments.

"After I showed him around, he asked when he could move in. This took me somewhat by surprise."

Abedi agreed to pay £600 upfront, with a further £150 part-way through his stay, and handed Ms Bain a handwritten note containing his name, a "previous address" and some contact details.

Ms Bain told police her subsequent attempts to contact Abedi were unsuccessful.

Then, on May 25, she saw her tenant's face on the news as the person suspected of being the Manchester bomber.

She told police: "I was in complete shock and couldn't believe the person responsible for this atrocity was staying in my apartment before carrying out the attack."

Her property was one of a number linked to the Abedis in the run-up to the bomb.

Earlier, jurors heard that father-of-two Aimen Elwafi sub-let his council flat in Somerton Court, Blackley, Manchester, to Salman Abedi in March and April 2017 - a property prosecutors say was used to make home-made explosives.

Mr Elwafi said he was "so angry" at the state his flat had been left in, with Abedi departing two weeks before the end of the agreed two-month period, that he intended to call him and complain.

He said there was a "strong, funny smell" in the property, a little like petrol and diesel, and found there were water bottles filled with cloudy liquid in the freezer, the electricity had been switched off, and a mattress, sleeping bags and a blanket had been left behind.

Mr Elwafi said Abedi "left the flat in a hurry" in mid-April and called him from the airport.

Prosecutors allege that Hashem Abedi was complicit in sourcing and stockpiling components for the bomb, which were later stored in vehicles around Manchester before being used in the attack.

The trial previously heard that the brothers left the UK for Libya in April, with Salman returning to Manchester alone days before the bombing.

In a witness statement read to the court, Mr Elwafi said he was in financial difficulty so rented the flat to Salman Abedi for a short time after placing an advert on a Libyan Facebook page.

The older brother paid £850 for two months' use of the one-bedroom flat, the court heard.

The sub-let was cut short when Mr Elwafi received a phone call from Salman.

Mr Elwafi, a law graduate, told police: "He said: 'I have got to give you the keys, I'm going back to Libya.'

"I asked if everything was OK, I thought someone had passed away. He just said he had some personal issues."

Mr Elwafi returned to the flat that evening, and said he was shocked at what he saw.

He told police he was "angry that they had left my flat in this way".

Hashem Abedi denies 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.

Among those killed were Sorrell Leczkowski, 14, from Adel, Leeds; Courtney Boyle, 19, a Leeds Beckett University student from Gateshead; Kelly Brewster, 32, from Sheffield; Wendy Fawell, 50, from Otley; and Angelika and Marcin Klis, a couple from York.

The trial was adjourned until Monday.