Families have been heard, says mother of murdered Martyn
THE mother of Martyn Hett has praised the Kerslake Report into May’s Manchester Arena attack for giving a voice to families of those killed – as she calls for a handbook to be created for those in any future atrocities.
Figen Murray was one of many relatives to contribute to the report, which looks at the strengths and weaknesses of how the bombing was handled.
She believes the result is ‘balanced,’ although nothing in it came as a surprise. However, she is particularly keen to see one of the ideas mentioned within it - a booklet for families suddenly hit by the horror of a terror attack – put into practice.
“Ideally what would be great is if there was, in future, a handbook,” she said. “That would be good. We were thrown into this situation completely out of the blue and it’s completely overwhelming. We felt at a loss and confused, everything in chaos.
“So to have a booklet saying ‘this is who you need to phone,’ ‘this is what you might experience,’ the different organisations who might be contacting you, where you go and get counselling – that would really help to have something containing all the relevant information possible.”
Describing the report as ‘very detailed,’ she said it has left her feeling ‘we have been heard as families.’
“I think our voice has been heard. It’s sympathetic and clearly states what it isn’t meant to be – and what the report is for. Each family was carefully consulted and I think that’s good. It was very respectful.
“Nothing in the report is a surprise for me though, even the stuff with the fire service. That was known. For us as a family, the fire service not being there for two hours was neither here nor there, because Martyn died instantly, in a split second.
“But I can understand the frustration of other families who may have had injured people who needed to get out to hospital sooner rather than later.”
She said her family fed ‘lots and lots’ of positive feedback to the review as well as ‘constructive criticism,’ adding that it was important to remember the positives. “They’re celebrating what went well, which is really good,” she said, adding that the review would help her family move forward in the grieving process.
“Now recommendations will hopefully be taken up so that next time an attack happens – because that’s inevitable – things will be better for future families affected. Nothing is perfect, but the good thing is that they’ve made some effort to do some learning and that’s been appreciated.”