NEIL MASUDA
His wife and three daughters were in Sainsbury’s, not far from Hyde Road, on a sunny Saturday morning, intending to make their way into Manchester when she took his call.
Dennis Walker was phoning from the Arndale Centre, which was then packed with 75,000-80,000 shoppers and staff. He had just been informed there was a bomb on Corporation Street outside Marks & Spencer.
A coded phone warning had been made by the IRA at 9.40am on June 15, 1996 to Granada Studios that the bomb would detonate in 90 minutes.
As part of a coordinated effort with the police and security teams, Dennis ensured the public were evacuated through the appropriate exits and locked any alternative ways out that could have led to danger.
A bomb disposal team was rushed from Liverpool, but their attempt to disarm the bomb was unsuccessful.
Dennis and his security team were doing a final sweep of the emptied
Arndale to check everyone had gone and were about to leave.
The 3,300lb bomb exploded at 11.17am.
Dennis was just exiting the Arndale and the force of the blast hurled him into the window of Debenhams on the other side of the road. Mercifully, he was unhurt.
He later told wife Paula: “I was worrying, yes, but not about being hurt – I was worrying that I wouldn’t get everyone out in time – that’s the scariest thing. ‘Can we empty this place fast enough?’ – that was my focus, I didn’t think of anything else.”
The explosion caused £700million of damage. At the time, England had been hosting the Euro ’96 football tournament and the Russia v Germany match was due to take place in Manchester the next day.
Incredibly – and thanks to the actions of Dennis, his team, the police and security forces – no one was killed. There were 212 injuries.
In the aftermath of the Arndale blast – 24 years ago this week – Dennis worked tirelessly seven days a week to help rebuild the centre.
But most did not realise that the man orchestrating the recovery work after the biggest bomb blast in Britain since the Second World War had been a player for Manchester United.
Not only that, he was the first