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Police Officers Reveal Their Tragic Stories From The Manchester Attack

Police Officers Reveal Their Tragic Stories From The Manchester Attack

'Can you help my mummy?' cried one girl.

Michael Minay

Michael Minay

What happened in Manchester on May 22 will never be forgotten. Twenty-two people tragically lost their lives, over 100 were injured, and thousands were left affected by the cowardly acts of a suicide bomber at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.

While many fled the scene in fear of their lives, many also ran towards it, facing danger right in the eyes.

First on the scene were the heroic police and paramedics that tried to treat those badly wounded. They could have all the training in the world, but nothing could prepare them for what they faced.

The majority of the quick responders were British Transport Police workers at Manchester Victoria station, which sits underneath the arena.

PSCO Mark Renshaw was the first officer at the scene, working with the BTP as a special constable. Before that he was a mental health worker.

Credit: Manchester Evening News

He said: "I heard an extremely loud explosion that literally shook me, everything shook. I saw people running and screaming, and my initial response was to go the same way they were all running, but something kicked in and I ran through the barriers, up the steps and into the foyer.

"It was pretty obvious what had happened. I remember screaming down my radio to get my colleagues and first aiders here."

Mark ran back outside to get first aid packs before quickly returning to the scene.

He added: "There was a little girl there. She tapped me on my vest and said, 'Can you help my mummy?' I walked around, she was by the steps. There was nothing I could do to save her.

"So, I picked her up, walked her out of the station and passed her to GMP. Then I went back up the stairs and tried to resuscitate two other people but they both died on me.

Credit: PA

Mark continued to give to give first aid, alongside his colleagues, and did so for two hours. He had to use makeshift stretchers from items within the Manchester Arena.

"We're just there to help and I don't think we thought about anything else.

"I was scared, but I couldn't have stood outside the station thinking 'I'm safe here' when there were people inside who I could have been helping. I would have regretted that. I have no regrets."

Officers Tom Campbell, Danielle Ayers, and Dale Edwards were also on the scene quickly. Dale said: "I pulled up into the taxi rank at Victoria station and there were loads of young children and parents covered in blood and that is when I thought there could be a bomb here."

Credit: Manchester Evening News

Danielle added: "Everyone was just flooding out of the tunnel. I got out of the van before it even stopped and just ran as fast as I could into the sitting rooms area, went up the stairs into the foyer, and we looked at each other and just went, 'Oh my god!'

"There's no amount of training that can prepare you for what we were all faced with. You just go into autopilot."

She spoke of how they were told of a possible second device, yet continued to do their job - doing their best to carry out first aid and apply CPR.

BTP officer Phil Healy and his dog, Mojo, were the first search team on the scene looking for a second bomb.

Credit: Manchester Evening News

Phil said: "As I went into the foyer, that's where you saw all the casualties, paramedics, public working their hardest. You could tell this was a major incident.

"I was taken further up, towards the sitting rooms, where I started doing all the clearance to make sure there was nothing else that's not detonated and could be of danger to anybody else.

"I had to clear where the blast zone was - unfortunately the deceased were there, and I had to work around them in case one of the other deceased may have been carrying a suicide vest.

"I've been haunted by visions over the last week but I am coming to terms with it and unfortunately it's one of those things where you have to try and de-personalise it because [you] have a job to do."

Phil said that it did affect seven-year-old Mojo, and how he had to tell him they had to continue their work.

Credit: PA

The work all police, paramedics, and members of the public selflessly put in was commendable. Without their acts of bravery, putting others first, the casualty list could have been much higher.

Manchester has responded brilliantly to the bomb, standing together and showing that the city will not be defeated.

The crowdfunding page has reached almost £2million in support of the families of those who lost their lives - the youngest just eight years old, the eldest aged 50.

Featured Image Credit: PA