this is bbc news. i'm rajini vaidanathan. the headlines: hashem abedi is sentenced to at least 55 years for the murder of 22 people in the manchester arena bombing — the victims' families have been reacting outside the old bailey. the number that he was given is totally, i can write him off now, he is no longer important in my life. what is important is the families, the bereaved, the injured, they are my focus now more. a big increase in the gcse pass rate in england — students' grades have been awarded by teachers, after coronavirus forced the cancellation of exams. i'm very proud of myself. ifeel like the grades i got i did deserve because i did work hard. i had one a*, five as and five bs.

the required ‘a' level grades will be offered a place at their first choice university. former trump adviser steve bannon is charged with fraud — over the fundraising campaign to build a us—mexico border wall. a prominent critic of the russian government is in intensive care. according to a major new study. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. hashem abedi, the brother of the manchester arena bomber, has been sentenced to at least 55 years injail, for the murder of 22 people. that's the longest specific term that's ever been

handed down in england. abedi refused to attend his two day sentencing hearing and face the families of those who died, who gave emotional statements about the impact of the attack in 2017. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. hashem abedi, guilty of murdering 22 people in the manchester arena bomb, was brought to court but again refused to leave the cells. the bereaved families saying today that it showed what a coward he is. as he passed sentence this afternoon, mrjustice jeremy baker said hashem abedi had played an integral part in plotting his brother's attack. because abedi was under 21 at the time of the bomb, he couldn't be given a whole life order which would've meant he could never be released, but the manchester chief constable told me he was reassured by the length of the minimum term. the fact that we know that he will spend the vast majority of his life in prison and that

others will have to make decisions about him being released on licence at some stage many decades from now, i think gives us a degree of comfort, but personally i would have liked to have seen a whole life tariff. the relatives of those abedi killed had told the judge how their lives had been turned upside down, and described the gaping holes left behind in their family. figen murray's son, martyn hett, had a huge vivacious personality and now he isjust gone. it's like an abyss of grief. there's no bottom to it, no end to it whatsoever. it is a forever grief. just because i don't publicly cry, doesn't mean i am not completely distraught and destroyed actually. it was hashem abedi's brother salman who detonated the bomb, killing himself in the process.

hashem abedi was in libya by then. but the jury decided the brothers had worked together, driving around manchester, ordering and storing chemicals and shrapnel for the bomb, so hashem abedi was just as guilty as his brother. ahmed grew up with the brothers in manchester and told me he still cannot believe what they did. they took 22 lives. what is hashem going to do now? hasem will sit in a cell and say, "why is this happening? why did i take this decision?" it will be for the parole board to decide in many decades' time whether hashem abedi should ever be released. and from outside the old bailey, daniel explained that this ruling brings to a close the criminal justice chapter of this case. the bereaved families will now be turning their minds to the next chapter of this, which is the public enquiry into the deaths, and i'm joined now by figen murray,

who you saw in my report, and her husband, stuart. do you feel a sense of relief that you now know what is going to happen to hashem abedi and he can't be released for 55 years? i feel a sense that the british justice system was working at its best today. and 55 years is i think a record, isn't it? but for me personally the fact he wasn't there today is what i expected him to do, so i'm not disappointed that he wasn't there, i expected it. secondly, ifeel that the number that he was given is totally, i can write him off now, he is no longer important in my life.