Gran kept teen alive while they waited for help

A HEROIC grandmother cradled a victim for an hour as the suicide bomber’s mangled remains lay nearby.

Mother-of-three Kim Dick, 54, and husband Phil were waiting in the Manchester Arena foyer to collect granddaughter Sasha, 15, and daughter Tamla, 17.

When the suicide bomber detonated the explosive device the couple, from Idle, in Bradford, were both blown across the foyer.

As Phil desperately searched the bloodied bodies to see if their girls were there, Kim raced over to cradle a gravely injured 14-year-old girl.

While Kim helped the shrapnel-riddled teenager, Phil made the grim discovery of the suicide bomber’s legs – all that remained of his corpse.

Yesterday Kim said: “There was a massive blast and when we got up there was a little girl, she was 14.

“Her long blonde hair was shrivelled up, singed, a plastic bag had melted in her hair.

“Blood was coming out of her mouth and down her shoulder. I said, ‘the girls, the girls’ and Phil said he would look for Sasha and Tamla and I would look after this little girl.

“I grabbed her and she was a puppet. I was walking her towards the door and got her through the foyer and she collapsed in my arms.

“I put her down and blood was coming out of her mouth and I thought she would have choked. Her eyes were staring up and I lifted her up and her little arms were broken.

“She had shrapnel in both her legs, her shoulder and her face. She lost pints and pints of blood in the time I was there.

“We made makeshift compressions to press on her wounds on her legs and shoulder. I was holding her up and talked to her, asking her name. She asked me if she was going to be okay and I said, ‘You are – your dad is coming’. Her eyes were staring ahead.”

Phil searched the wrecked foyer and eventually found his children safe, along with the bomber’s body.

The 54-year-old IT company owner said: “There was smoke and blood everywhere. The bomber was at the centre of it all.”

For nearly an hour, Kim cradled the girl as police swept the area before allowing in paramedics.

She said: “We stopped the bleeding but I couldn’t move as she screamed if I did.

“The armed police swarmed in and it seemed to take forever to check the place.

“I was sat there so long, and all I could see was the bodies and the blood.

“People’s clothes had been blown off them and people were crying in agony.”

Eventually Phil and the police moved the girl by making a makeshift stretcher from a table that had been stacked with Ariana Grande merchandise.

Phil said: “I am absolutely convinced Kim is responsible for that little girl being here. She saved her life.”

The girl’s grateful family were full of praise for the couple. Her sister sent them a text message saying: “She is in the high dependency unit and doing all right. She has broken her arm.

“Thank you so much for caring for my sister. We don’t know where we would be without her.” Phil and Kim Dick were in the foyer