Manchester Arena Inquiry: Worker 'saved teenager from bleeding to death'

A Manchester Arena employee "probably" saved the life of a girl who suffered severe shrapnel injuries in the 2017 terror attack, an inquiry has heard.

Lucy Jarvis said she asked a technician to take off her shoes to ease her pain as she lay on a railway station floor for two hours after the bombing.

The 21-year-old from Wigan said John Clarkson examined the serious injuries to her ankles and told her to keep her shoes on.

Twenty two people died in the attack.

Ms Jarvis received severe injuries to her ankles in the blast at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

She told the hearing: "I remember both my feet were throbbing... and I asked John to take my shoes off and he was like 'we can't take your shoes off'.

"Now I realise if he had taken my shoes off I would probably have bled to death because my ankles were so badly injured."

Ms Jarvis had gone to the concert with her friend Amelia Tomlinson, who were both 17 at the time, but they were separated by the force of the blast in the arena's foyer.

She said Mr Clarkson and his engineer colleague Paul Worsley sat with her.

"I remember John and Paul holding my hands and they kept saying to me 'if you feel like you are going to sleep then squeeze my hand'."

She recalled lying on the floor of Victoria railway station for "nearly two hours" before being taken to Salford Royal Hospital where she underwent 14 hours of surgery.

She then spent eight weeks in hospital where her visitors included Mr Clarkson and Mr Worsley.

Ms Jarvis said she has not fully recovered from her injuries to her upper and lower legs, left upper arm and forearm, bladder and kidney, as well as blood clots on her lungs.

The inquiry also heard from Ms Tomlinson who recounted how the friends were "knocked off their feet" as they passed the bomber.

The 21-year-old from Wigan said: "I felt like this warm gush of air hit me and I felt really warm, like when you jump in a pool.

"I felt my body getting thrown around. I remember going into a ball.

"I opened my eyes, I could see loads of smoke. I could see loads of people on the ground.

She added: "Lucy and me had been blown apart."

Ms Tomlinson said she was unable to run because a bolt had passed through her shoe and her friend was "severely injured".

"Lucy sat down on the steps and said she could not walk and was going to die, and I could tell she was losing lots of blood," she said.

Ms Tomlinson suffered injuries to her fingers but managed to call Ms Jarvis's mother.

While Ms Jarvis was taken away by emergency responders, Robert MacFarlane, a first aider at the arena, wrapped up Ms Tomlinson's injured fingers and took her outside.

She said the street was in "chaos" but she managed to meet up with her mother and grandmother and Mr MacFarlane drove them to Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Another witness, Suzanne Atkins, had gone to pick up her daughter and her friend when the bomber passed within a metre of her, carrying a large rucksack on his back.

In a statement to police, read to the inquiry, she said: "He looked out of place in amongst a crowd of young girls and families.

"He just seemed to be different and have a purpose."

Speaking about the explosion, Mrs Atkins said: "It felt like something had rolled into me but was burning into my legs.

The court heard how she "went on auto-pilot" to find her daughter and felt an "intense and almost unreal sense of relief" when she finally got through on the phone.

The inquiry continues.

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