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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Neal Keeling & Ryan Fahey

Parents of girl killed in Arena blast weep as her final selfies are recovered from phone

This is the heartbreaking moment the parents of the youngest Manchester Arena terror attack victim wiped away tears as they saw their beloved daughter's last selfies before her tragic death.

Lisa and Andrew Roussos, the parents of eight-year-old Saffie-Rose, thought the memories on the phone were lost forever after it was damaged at the scene.

Saffie-Rose was the youngest of the 22 people cruelly murdered by terrorist Salman Abedi, who detonated a homemade shrapnel-laden bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande Concert at the venue.

Despite Saffie-Rose's phone being shattered in the blast, digital experts have managed to recover data - including her last selfies taken just hours before her death.

Saffie-Rose Roussos was just eight years old when she became one of 22 killed in the Manchester Arena bomb blast (BBC)

In an emotional clip, her mum and dad Andrew and Lisa break down in tears as they see the images of Saffie-Rose smiling and excited on her way to the concert, Manchester Evening News reports.

Sobbing as she looks at the images on a computer, Lisa says: "It's lovely, but obviously sad at the same time. I'm glad I've got another one."

Her parents thought they had lost photographs of their daughter forever, but digital experts managed to recover her phone and the heartbreaking snaps taken just before the concert (BBC)

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."

The death of Saffie and 21 others in the blast from evil Abedi's suicide bomb at the end of the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017, is subject to a public inquiry.

The clip of Saffie's parents is part of a BBC Panorama documentary which shows them returning to Manchester for an inquiry (Arena Inquiry.)

A BBC Panorama documentary, due to air tonight, follows Saffie's parents Andrew and Lisa as they return to Manchester for the 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 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.

The parents sit down to view the recovered selfies form the shattered phone (BBC)

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, Lancs.

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?'

They were so traumatised by their daughter's death they decided to move to a new home (BBC Panorama, Manchester Arena Bombing: Saffie’s Story)

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.

The documentary is set to move viewers to tears (BBC)

"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."

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