“I’m truly sorry.” This was Chief Constable Stephen Watson’s message to the families of the 22 victims of the Manchester Arena Bombing todauy.
"The buck stops with me,” declared Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue’s Chief Fire Officer David Russel accepting that grave failures were made in the emergency services response to the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017. “We are and will be accountable, I do not shy away from personal responsibility,” CC Watson added as he, Mr Russel, Lucy D’Orsi of British Transport Police and Darren Mochrie of the North West Ambulance Service accepted the findings of today’s second part of the inquiry into the attack.
Inquiry chair Sir John Saunders was highly critical of the immediate response to the bombing, with all of the emergency services coming under scrutiny. Sir Saunders also found that one of the 22 victims, John Atkinson, a 28-year-old carer from Radcliffe, could have survived if the response were better.
