Young girls at a pop concertwith everything to live for. That’s why a fanatic murdered them...
‘Why would you target innocent children? ‘Everyone is heartbroken’
THE mother of an eight-year- old killed in the explosion was last night in intensive care – and may not yet know that her little girl has died.
It is unclear whether Lisa Roussos learned of daughter Saffie’s fate before being placed under heavy sedation.
Saffie – believed to be the youngest to die in the attack and one of the UK’s youngestever terror victims – was leaving the concert with her mother, 48, and half-sister Ashlee Bromwich, 25, when they were hit by shrapnel from the blast. Saffie died at the scene, while her relatives were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Friends and family had issued desperate appeals for information about their whereabouts on social media, only to receive the crushing news of Saffie’s death.
Her aunt told the Mail last night: ‘I can’t even imagine what Lisa will be feeling. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. There is nothing anyone can do or say to make it any better. All our lives have been devastated.
‘Saffie was such a bubbly little girl. She was really pretty, absolutely adorable. I’m just numb inside. I haven’t even cried yet, but I know it’s coming. She had everything to live for, and its been taken away from her.
‘And for what reason? Her parents are normal, respectable, people who have worked hard all their lives, all for some evil scum to wipe out their family. Why would you target innocent children? Why would you target a concert when you know young people and children are going to be there?’ Mrs Rous- sos’s husband Andrew, 43, was understood to be at her bedside last night. The couple run a fish and chip shop in Leyland, Lancashire.
At Saffie’s school yesterday, children and parents were seen leaving in tears. Anita Townsley, whose grandson attends Tarleton Community Primary School, near Preston, said: ‘Everyone is absolutely devastated. For the kids to be so looking forward to a concert and then for this to happen – it’s awful. It’s such a close community, everyone’s absolutely heartbroken.’
Saffie’s Brownie leader paid tribute to the ‘adorable and loveable little girl’. Tracey Radcliffe, of the 1st Tarleton Brownies, added: ‘She was just lovely. No one should go to a gig and not return.’
Saffie’s aunt and uncle said Mrs Roussos was undergoing surgery for shrapnel wounds. ‘Ashlee is in another hospital but stable, we think,’ they added. ‘ We can’t accept it really. The people responsible are absolutely disgusting.
‘The Government need to do something. They know where these people are. They need to tighten up and catch them. We were supposed to be going to a concert at the Manchester Arena in four weeks, but there is no way we could be there now.’
Another of the bombing victims had achieved her dream when she met pop star Ariana Grande two years ago. After posing arm in arm with her favourite singer, Georgina Callander wrote that it was the ‘best concert of my life’. When the 18-year- old secured a ticket to Miss Grande’s return to the Manchester Arena on Monday, she was unable to contain her excitement.
Georgina sent a message to the star on Twitter which said: ‘ SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU TOMORROW.’ She also sent excited messages to friends to discuss meeting up before the concert.
Georgina, the first victim to be named, met Miss Grande on June 4, 2015, in a backstage area of the Manchester Arena.
Then 16, she posted pictures of the pair on social media, saying: ‘She was so cute and lovely. I hugged her so tight. I can’t get over this, I never will.’
In another message she wrote: ‘After six years of waiting, I finally got to meet and see my love. I am so happy right now. Hands down the best concert of my life.’ The teenager spent lots of her free time travelling to fan conventions for various pop stars.
She also posted pictures from the many concerts she attended, including performances by X Factor bands Little Mix and One Direction. Yesterday some of the celebrities she had met paid tribute. Sean Maguire, who appeared in the TV series Grange Hill and Once Upon A Time, met Georgina last month.
He said: ‘She was so young and sweet. She was killed last night Manchester. My love to her and all the families of the victims.’
YouTube star Joe Sugg said: ‘So sad to hear about this. RIP Gina.’ The teenager lived with her brothers Daniel, 21, and Harry, 19, and parents Simon, 57, and Lesley, 54, in the village of Hesketh Bank, near Preston.
Her mother attended a vigil in her memory last night, clutching a blanket and laying a single yellow flower on the ground.
Georgina’s best friend Skye, who lives in New Zealand, wrote on her Instagram page: ‘My best friend in this whole damn world has been killed just after watching her favourite artist perform live.
‘I hate this earth and this is proof that the loveliest people are the first to go. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you sunshine. You’re the sweetest person I have ever come to know. I’m absolutely broken and can’t stop shaking.
‘The padlock you placed in Paris is our friendship forever. We’ll meet someday young one, just not where we hoped to. All of my love from the bottom of my heart. Rest in peace honey. I’ll never ever for- get you. Lots of love.’ Another friend, Shelby Wharton, 17, described Georgina as ‘kind and loving’. She said: ‘We were all praying for her to be found safely.’
Georgina, who once played football for Bolton Wanderers girls’ team, was a second-year health and social care student at Runshaw College in Leyland.
She was a former pupil at Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy near Leyland. The school said: ‘Georgina was a lovely young student who was very popular with her peers and the staff.’
John Atkinson, 28, was another victim to be named yesterday. His family were too upset to speak at his home in Radcliffe, Bury. Neighbours said his partner Gemma, who was injured, was being comforted by friends last night.
Mr Atkinson, a former health and social studies student at Bury College, was described by his friend Kirsty Taylor as the ‘life and soul of the party’ who did not have a ‘bad bone in his body’.