Excited fan who got ticket for 14th birthday
A SCHOOLGIRL killed in the Manchester massacre was given the ticket to see Ariana Grande for her 14th birthday.
Nell Jones, 14, became one of the 22 victims just hours after posting a selfie on Snapchat with the caption: ‘Ariana Grande now X’.
The farmer’s daughter travelled to the pop concert – the first she had ever attended – with her best friend Freya Lewis, who suffered terrible injuries.
Two parents described how they comforted Freya and used a merchandise table as a makeshift stretcher while searching for their own children.
Last night Freya’s father Nick, who drove the girls to the show, said the tragic situation in which they are left is ‘impossible to describe’.
Describing his daughter’s plight, he said: ‘After ten-and-a-half hours in surgery she is stable. The staff at the hospital have been incredible.
‘Freya has been sewn, bolted, drilled and bandaged back together.
‘It is going to be a long climb but we are on the first step. We really know how much you all care.
‘Our priority now is to concentrate on our children and to make sense of what has happened.’
Nell grew up on her parents’ turkey farm in Cranage, and attended Holmes Chapel comprehensive school. She enjoyed fashion and drama, which she planned to study at GCSE, playing Miss Moneypenny in a James Bond comedy sketch.
‘Nell was one of the nicest people you would ever meet,’ said Rachelle Watts, 43, the mother of Olivia Watts, 15, Nell’s close friend who has known her for 11 years.
‘She was fun-loving, extremely kind and very intelligent. She loved drama and was very good at maths. Nell was really looking forward to her first concert and she went shopping the weekend before for her outfit. I will never have a friend like her again, she was irreplaceable.’
Denis Oliver, headteacher at Nell’s school, said her family has been left ‘devastated’ by her death.
Speaking about her fellow pupils, form tutor David Wheeler said: ‘It feels like they have lost a sister.’