Manchester Arena Inquiry: Bomb tore mother of victim's world apart

A woman whose daughter was killed in the Manchester Arena attack has told an inquiry of the moment the bomb exploded and her "whole world was torn apart".

Eilidh MacLeod, who was 14 and from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, was 13ft (4m) from Salman Abedi when set off a homemade device at the venue in 2017.

Marion MacLeod told the Manchester Arena Inquiry she heard an "enormous explosion" as she waited outside the venue for her daughter.

"The ground shook," she told a hearing.

The inquiry into the attack has been looking at the individual circumstances of how each of the 22 people killed at the venue on 22 May 2017 died.

The hearing was told Eilidh had been a "happy fun-loving girl" who had an "amazing sense of fun and sense of humour".

"Her life was good and she was loving it," her family said.

In a statement read to the inquiry, Mrs MacLeod said Eilidh had attended the concert with a friend and she had been waiting to collect them when she heard the bomb go off.

"I was just about at the corner, across the road from where I told Eilidh I would be waiting for them, when I heard an enormous explosion," she said.

"The ground shook and that was when our whole world was torn apart."

The court heard that Eilidh died in the arena foyer from multiple injuries that medical experts said were unsurvivable.

Her friend was seriously injured.

Addressing the hearing, inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders said Eilidh "would have achieved anything she set her mind to" and had "enriched the lives of many".

The inquiry also heard how the mother of Sorrell Leczkowski tried to resuscitate her after the bomb went off.

The 14-year-old, from Leeds, was with her mother Samantha and grandmother Pauline Healy as they waited to pick up her sister from the concert.

The inquiry heard Sorrell had been "singing and dancing" and making her family laugh about 20ft (6m) from Abedi when the bomb went off.

The hearing was told Mrs Leczkowski carried out chest compressions on her daughter and a security guard, car park employee and various police officers also tried to resuscitate her, while she "pleaded with them not to let her die".

However, the schoolgirl died in the arena foyer from a neck injury. Her grandmother was also badly injured.

Her mother said Sorrell, who wanted to study at Columbia University in New York to become an architect, was "precious and so perfect" and was "a happy, positive and caring young woman".

The institution's architecture society later made her an honorary member.

Sir John said Sorrell had been "at the centre of her family life".

"She was happy, she was fun and she was caring," he said.

"It is ironic that so many victims of this evil act were especially full of life and talented too."

The inquiry continues.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]