United in their grief
Two years on, best friends remember mums killed in Manchester atrocity
TWO best friends whose mothers were killed in the Manchester Arena bombing have spoken of their unimaginable loss.
As the city fell silent yesterday to mark the second anniversary of the atrocity, in which 22 people died, Darcie Howe and India Lees told of the inspiration they draw from their mums.
The life-long friends – then aged 15 – were dropped off by their mothers at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017, but tragically both women were killed when suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his home-made device.
Lisa Lees, 43, and Alison Howe, 45, both from Royton, Oldham, had given their daughters tickets to see the US pop star as Christmas presents and were waiting to pick them up from the foyer after it finished. ‘We heard a big bang and then everyone was screaming,’ India told ITV News. ‘There were big queues to get out the doors, so we just climbed over the chairs instead, and then ran outside. We kept ringing our mums.’ Darcie said: ‘We didn’t want to believe it. We thought they might still be waiting somewhere.’
Tragically their families were later given the horrific news that both women had died. ‘ They seemed so strong and brave, I just didn’t think anything like that would happen to them,’ India said. ‘So I just kept my hope up and I couldn’t believe it until I actually heard the news.’ Her friend added: ‘It didn’t sink in for ages.’
Explaining how much she missed her mother Alison, a sexual health nurse, Darcie said: ‘I hope I’m like her when I’m older.’ India agreed, saying: ‘It was like having another me. She always said to believe in myself.’ Yesterday a memorial service was held at St Ann’s Church in Manchester, where a minute’s silence was observed.
Dan Hett, whose brother Martyn, 29, died in the blast, wrote on social media before attending the memorial. ‘I’m trying not to post old photos or wistful platitudes today,’ he said. ‘I’m going to do the school run, go to a memorial thing, then I’ll probably get drunk and cry with a bunch of people later.’
The city’s bells rang out last night at 10.31pm to mark exactly two years since the deadly blast.
Meanwhile, the father of the bombing’s youngest victim has hit out at ‘MI5 and our Government’ for failing to stop the attack. Andrew Roussos’ daughter Saffie was holding his wife Lisa’s hand when the shrapnel-packed device detonated, and the eight-year-old did not stand a chance.
The 45-year-old told Sky News: ‘I put the blame on MI5 and our Government for this. They knew about him a long time ago. And they didn’t look into him.’
He added: ‘This guy went on YouTube to find out how to create a bomb, he went to Libya and came back after a couple of days.’
Inquests into the attack have been delayed amid efforts to extradite the bomber’s brother from Libya, but Mr Roussos urged a quick start to proceedings.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve lost my eight-yearold,’ he said. ‘Enough is enough.’