One of the 22 people murdered in the Manchester Arena suicide bombing would probably have survived but for inadequacies in the emergency response.
Care worker John Atkinson, 28, was six metres away when the explosion went off in the City Room foyer of the venue at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on the evening of May 22, 2017.
Mr Atkinson’s family said it ‘should simply never have been allowed to happen’, adding: “It is crystal clear that due to those failings, John died from injuries that he could and should have survived.”
Only three paramedics entered the City Room on the night and none was seen to attend or assist Mr Atkinson, before he was carried on a makeshift stretcher to a casualty clearing area where he later suffered a cardiac arrest – one hour and 16 minutes after the blast.
On Thursday, Manchester Arena Inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders delivered a scathing report on the response of the emergency services.
He said: “Significant aspects of the emergency response on 22nd May 2017 went wrong. This should not have happened.
“Some of what went wrong had serious and, in the case of John Atkinson, fatal consequences for those directly affected by the explosion.”
Rebecca Jackson’s daughter Amy and her friend Ellise were among those caught up in the terrorist attack. It was the first time the pair, students at Dowdales School in Dalton, had been allowed to attend a concert alone.
“At about 10pm we made our way to the arena and waited by the exit where the box office was,” Mrs Jackson said. “All of a sudden we heard this loud, dull thud and the ground shook. It was like nothing I’d heard before, we thought there’d been a train crash or something.
“I kept trying to ring Amy and eventually got through, then there was a second explosion, which sounded like a gunshot, and she was screaming. Then the phone went dead.
“I was desperately trying to run inside, shouting for Amy, as all these people were trying to get out.
“It was probably only a couple of minutes, but it felt like a lifetime, and then she was there. I just grabbed them and we ran to the car.”
In 2020, the University of Cumbria launched a pioneering counter-terrorism risk management course.
The mother of a victim of the Manchester bombing attended the university’s Ambleside campus on the opening day of the course.
Figen Murray’s son, Martyn Hett, was 29 years old when he was killed in the terror attack.
Ms Murray said: “It currently feels that terrorists are a step or two ahead of the rest of us, but hopefully the university’s advanced diploma will help close some of the gaps.”
She said: “Terrorism is a modern-day menace we all have to live with. Up to the point where we were devastated as a family, I thought it only happened on the news and in films. I never thought we would become the news.
“Although the chances of being involved in an attack are rare, they are totally destructive on the families unlucky enough to be caught up in them. The threats are there and I firmly believe the public should have increased awareness of personal safety.
“The more in-depth specialist training we have means we stand a better chance of dealing with terrorists more effectively. I would like other universities to follow Cumbria’s lead and for these courses to be available across the county.”
