Almost £20million will be paid to some of those who suffered injuries during the Manchester Arena bomb attack, a judge has ruled.
In total, 16 people who were all aged under 16 at the time of the attack on an Ariana Grande concert will receive sums of between £2,770 to £11.4m, which was agreed at a Manchester Civil Courts of Justice hearing.
The attack occurred on May 22, 2017, in which a suicide bomber detonated an improvised device in the foyer of the AO Arena as fans were leaving Grande’s concert. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.
None of the 16 people or their families can be identified due to a court order. Some of them suffered “catastrophic” and life-changing injuries, while others experienced severe psychological trauma.
A public inquiry into the bombing started in September 2020 and found that opportunities to prevent the attack had been missed, as well as “serious shortcomings” in security. The family of Martyn Hett, one of the victims, went on to say that they had felt “badly failed” by the MI5.
The damages will be paid by venue manager SMG Europe Holdings, crowd management company Showsec International Ltd, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and British Transport Police (BTP). According to the claimants’ layers, all four organisations have apologised to the bereaved families and to the survivors and have acknowledged their failures.
Following the hearing, claims by another 352 people will be agreed between lawyers for the defendants and the claimants. They are all adults deemed to have capacity, including the families of the 22 people who lost their lives. No details of any public money to be paid out by the BTP and GMP will be made public as the agreements have been made out-of-court.
“Each of these cases has a common link, that is injuries and loss suffered, arising out of a single and unimaginable act of terrorism committed on the evening of May 22 2017 at the end of a concert attended by very many young people and their families,” said Judge Nigel Bird, who presided over the case.
“Twenty-two innocent lives were lost and and the lives of countless others impacted. The love and care a parent gives to an injured child is beyond monetary value.”
He went on to pay tribute to the “courage, dedication and fortitude” of the families involved in each case. “Each, through their quiet determination, has brought about promises of change in the hope that in the future, other families need not go through what they have been through.”
The three lead firms representing the claimants – Hudgell Solicitors, Slater & Gordon and Broudie Jackson Canter – issued a statement in response to the verdict. “This is not a day of celebration. It is a moment to acknowledge the mistakes that were made and the unimaginable suffering our clients have endured over the past eight-and-a-half years.
“Their strength and resilience have been extraordinary, and without that, we would not have reached this settlement.
“We now expect all parties to honour their commitment to do what they can to prevent those same mistakes from happening again.
“It has been a privilege to work on behalf of our courageous clients. We wish them only peace and strength as they look to the future.”
Earlier this year, ‘Martyn’s Law’, named after Hett, came into force, implementing more anti-terror measures to protect fans at live music events. It requires staff at entertainment venues to have more training and better safeguarding against terrorists and potential terror attacks.
