Husband’s fury after police take 18 hours to inform him

THE husband of one of the victims of the Manchester bombing has criticised the police after being forced to wait 18 hours before being told that his wife had died.

Steve Howe said he had been failed by the arrangements made by police to keep loved ones informed as he recalled the moment he was told about the explosion by his daughter, Darcie, and the wait for the news he was expecting.

Alison Howe, 45, and her friend, Lisa Lees, 47, from Royton, Oldham, were waiting for their teenage daughters together in the foyer of the arena when the device packed with nuts and bolts exploded, killing them both.

Mr Howe told Channel 4 News his daughter, who was at the concert, called him to say “she couldn’t get through to mum, obviously hysterical”.

He said he picked up Mrs Lees’s husband and they headed for the arena to collect their daughters but got “passed from pillar to post” and were “left in the dark” as they searched hospitals for their wives. He said that at one stage, the families of the dead and missing were told to gather at Manchester city stadium, only to be told nothing at all.

He said three police officers called to his home with a liaison officer, 18 hours later, without any news. At his wits’ end, he gave the liaison officer an hour: “Within two minutes she came back, walked upstairs and said ‘you’re right, your wife is dead.’” Greater Manchester Police said it was “very concerned” by Mr Howe’s criticisms and it was doing its “best in difficult circumstances”.