Nearly five years on from the devastating attacks, the father of one of the Manchester Arena Bombing victims has heartbreakingly revealed that his son's life 'couldn't have been better' before it was taken away. Paul Hett's son, Martyn, was one of 22 concert-goers murdered by a suicide bomber after attending an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on May 22, 2017.
Tonight, April 11, the first instalment of a two-part documentary about the attack and the lives that it claimed is set to air on ITV. 'Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing' will be shown at 9pm, and will include moving interviews with the family and friends of those who died, Manchester Evening News reports.
PR manager Martyn was just 29 when he tragically lost his life, with his dad claiming that 2017 was set to be an amazing year for his late son, who had a big trip to the United States planned. Paul also revealed details of the last time he saw his son alive, recalling that he gave him a 'big hug'.
The bereft father says in tonight's documentary: "Life couldn't have been better. We gave him a big hug and sadly that was the last time we saw him. The next morning I got up, jumped in the car, put the radio on and they were saying there had been a bomb at the Manchester Arena. I remember thinking how absolutely awful for those families, that must be absolutely terrible.
"So, I got my mobile phone to see if there were any messages and the text basically said 'We don't want to worry you but Martyn was at the concert with us and he is missing'. My world fell apart."
Paul Swaine, who was friends with Martyn, also features in the series. He says: "Martyn would make you feel like you were the only person in the room. He cared, he looked after people, he was going to be a friend for life."
The family of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell-Hardy will also be speaking about the unimaginable losses they've dealt with since the fatal night. In addition to shedding light on the devastating personal impact the atrocity had on the families of the victims, the documentary considers the missed opportunities to stop the bomber, intelligence failings on the part of the security services and the widely criticised response of the emergency services on the night.
Just last month, a public inquiry into the attack adjourned, with two reports on the background to the bombing, including the radicalisation of perpetrator Salman Abedi, and the emergency services response due to be published later this year. According to Mr Hett, the evidence so far has 'changed everything'.
The Arena public inquiry has heard how there were 'significant failures' by five British Transport Police officers who were on duty before the blast. Shockingly, two of those on duty drove away from the arena to buy kebabs during a two-hour break.
Abedi's brother Hashem is currently serving a 55 year sentence for his role in the attack. In the upcoming docuseries, Mr Hett says that he believes that Hashem and Salman's experiences of the war in Libya, and the influence of their father, are the root causes for what they did.
Mr Hett says: "I am not a believer that children are born bad. These weren't born bad.
"They were taken to Libya. They were trained to fight in the war over there and I believe that was the start of this because he [Salman Abedi] believed what Ramadan told him."
With regards to the evidence heard so far as part of the inquiry, Mr Hett says: "The most damning part of the evidence was the failure of British Transport Police. They were given specific instructions that someone had to be in the City Room during egress and ingress. And had British Transport Police been in there it is highly likely very few people would have been killed and Martyn would still be here today."
A spokesperson for the British Transport Police told Manchester Evening News: "Substantial changes have been made in British Transport Police since 2017." The force also recognised that there were a number of systemic failings and said subsequent improvements were presented to the inquiry in January.
ITV said the documentary presents two polarising worlds that tragically collided, one of innocent young fans attending an Ariana Grande concert and the other of a radical Islamic extremist who had grown up in the city just miles from his eventual victims. The series also includes contributions from those who were at the concert and former staff who were working on the night.
Mr Price, who was stood just feet away from his partner Elaine when she tragically died in the explosion, says: "The next thing I know is that I'm coming round in intensive care after being in a coma for nearly two weeks. I don't remember being told that Elaine had been killed."
'Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing' will be on ITV tonight at 9pm. Let us know if you will be watching by logging in and leaving a comment down below.
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