Manchester bombing ‘could happen again now’, lawyer for victims’ families warns

‘The unsettled Government would have presented an ideal opportunity for an attack – thankfully, it didn’t’

THE “catastrophic” emergency response to the Manchester Arena bombing could happen again now, a lawyer for victims’ families has warned ahead of a long-awaited inquiry report.

The police, ambulance service and fire service faced heavy criticism after victims of the suicide attack were left waiting up to four hours before they were taken to hospital.

Two of the 22 people killed in the May 2017 atrocity could have survived if they had received better first aid, including Saffie-Rose Roussos, 8, who was the youngest victim.

Next week, the public inquiry into the bombing will publish a report examining the emergency response. Its assessment of decisions taken that night is likely to include police designating the foyer of the arena a “hot zone” that was too dangerous for ambulance crews to enter, meaning one paramedic was treating casualties for the first 40 minutes.

Kim Harrison, a solicitor at Slater and Gordon who represents 12 of the victims’ families, told The Sunday Telegraph similar failings could occur if a bomb exploded today, unless sweeping changes are recommended by the inquiry.

She said: “Sadly, if no changes are made and no lessons are learned then we have no confidence that there would be a better emergency response, in particular with regards to the extrication of casualties from hot zones ... We must learn from the catastrophic failures made on the night, consider the approach taken by other agencies around the world who the inquiry heard evidence from before there can be any confidence in any future approach.”

Ms Harrison represents the family of the other victim who died despite having “potentially survivable” injuries, 28-year-old John Atkinson, who had to wait one hour and 29 minutes to be put into an ambulance.

The solicitor said she would like to see recommendations such as improvements in the sharing of information and risk assessment across the emergency services and that “the values of flexibility and pragmatism must be valued over rigid adherence to policy”.

Figen Murray, whose son Martyn Hett, 29, was killed instantly in the blast, told The Telegraph it had been “distressing” listening to evidence at the inquiry over many months. She has campaigned for Martyn’s Law to place a legal duty on organisations and venues to put in place anti-terror measures at publicly accessible locations. It is expected to be introduced into legislation by the Government, but has been beset by delays.

“I have realised very early on that the Government works incredibly slowly and then we’ve had Covid, we’ve had no Government for two months after Boris Johnson stepped down,” she said. “With the unsettled Government, that would have presented an ideal opportunity for an attack to happen – thankfully, it didn’t.

“It is really high time that the Government brings forward this legislation ... and not a watered down version of it.”

The ambulance service declined to comment.