Families hunt loved ones as waiting ends for others

THE families of the remaining victims were last night being contacted by Greater Manchester Police who said that they had finally identified all the bodies.

Relatives were still looking for Leeds criminology student Courtney Boyle, 19, who had travelled to pick up her younger sister Nicole with her mother’s partner Philip Tron, 32, a plumber.

Mr Tron’s uncle, Ken Mullen, said: “Philip and Courtney went across to the arena at the end to collect her. They were heading towards the foyer where the bomb went off.”

Eilidh Macleod, 14, from the Isle of Barra, Scotland, was also still unaccounted for last night, two days after the atrocity.

She was with her friend Laura Macintyre, 15, when they were caught in the attack as they left the arena.

Laura was located in hospital around 20 hours later after a frantic search by family members but Eilidh remains missing.

Annag Maclean, the head teacher at Castlebay Community School where the two girls studied, said the community was “in shock, feeling numb and struggling to come to terms” with what had happened.

The families of Liam Curry, 19, and Chloe Rutherford, 17, of South Shields, late last night confirmed that they were dead. The couple had been reported as missing.

Mr Curry, a sports science student at Northumbria University, whose father died in March after a long illness, had taken Chloe for a night away as a romantic treat. But neither had been seen after apparently leaving before the final song of the night.

Bernard Wills, 36, one of Liam’s relatives, said the couple had a “bright future” together. The families’ joint statement said: “They were beautiful inside and out to ourselves and our families, and they were inseparable.”

Wendy Fawell, a 50-year-old school worker, disappeared in the chaos while waiting for her 15-year-old daughter Charlotte. The Elvis Presley fan from Otley, West Yorks, was waiting with a friend, Caroline, who suffered shrapnel wounds and was hospitalised.

Her stepdaughter, Emma Sykes, said: “Right now, we are just hoping that she is disorientated, or something, and that she is somewhere safe.”