Mum’s tears at Saffie’s last selfies on the way to arena
ASHATTERED phone has revealed a heartbreaking memory for the parents of the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena attack.
It belonged to Saffie-Rose Roussos and was lost and damaged in the blast.
Now an emotional clip captures the moment her parents, Lisa and Andrew, see for the first time her last selfies recovered by digital experts from the phone.
The images are of Tarleton Primary School pupil Saffie with her mum in the car on her way to the Ariana Grande concert at the Arena.
Wiping away tears as she sees the selfies on a laptop, Lisa says: “It’s lovely, but obviously sad at the same time. I’m glad I’ve got another one.”
Andrew says: “Precious things... that we shouldn’t...”
Lisa then finishes his sentence saying: “That we take for granted because you don’t think of the worst ever, why would you, But afterwards you realise how precious and important they are.”
Saffie, eight, was one of 22 people who were killed when Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.
A BBC Panorama documentary, aired this week, follows Saffie’s parents Andrew and Lisa as they return to Manchester for the public inquiry and shows them speaking with security experts about the attack.
In the programme, Lisa and Andrew say ‘questions need to be answered’ over why bomber Salman Abedi wasn’t prevented from carrying out the atrocity.
It follows them as they return to Manchester for the public inquiry and shows them speaking with security experts about the attack.
Following the bombing Andrew and wife Lisa – who was badly injured in the attack, needing nine operations
– and their son Xander never returned to their home in Leyland.
Andrew said: “Me and Lisa couldn’t face what we had as a family.
“Once Lisa left hospital. I said, ‘Why don’t we just move away?’”
Their new home in Dorset includes a bedroom for Saffie.
In the documentary, Lisa can be seen opening a box containing photos of Saffie and other treasured memories of her daughter, for the first time since the move.
She says: “Everything in this room is what she knew, that she’d seen.
“That’s what we wanted. We didn’t want anything changing. She’s here with me and I wouldn’t want her anywhere else.
Lisa said: “On the actual night I set out her clothes. I got her Ariana Grande t-shirt. She couldn’t believe it, she was so excited, so happy.”