Mothers of two teenagers killed in the Manchester Arena terror attack say they have been left distraught following a meeting with Home Office officials. Lisa Rutherford and Caroline Curry met Home Office officials last week as part of an ongoing campaign to secure the right to register the deaths of their children.
But the pair said the unproductive meeting had added to their distress, just days before next week’s release of a major report into the May 2017 bombing which killed 22 innocent people.
Sweethearts Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, were among those killed in the atrocity. The couple, who’d dreamed of one day getting married, were “inseparable” in life, relatives said.
Current legislation prevents family members from providing the information needed to register a death if it has been the subject of an inquest.
Instead, details are sent to the relevant authorities by a coroner but parents of the two teenagers say this is preventing them from grieving for their children.
In an interview with GB News to be broadcast today, Caroline said: “All I want to do is give these details, his name, his address, my name as the informant.
“That’s all I want to do. That to me will begin my grieving process. So why should a bureaucrat take that away from me as a parent?”
Speaking about her son Liam, she added: “I just want to be able to do the right thing for our kids. I wish these ministers could just for one minute take off the office job head and put on the parent head.”
Lisa added: “We have had so much taken away from us when we lost the kids, you know, at the end of the day because of the circumstances. Along with the pain of all of that, this just seems cruel.
“We are definitely not in any grieving process. I’m still stuck in that, that day, that night.
“Things like this just add extra unnecessary upset. It’s really hard and has taken a physical and obviously mental health is impacted and understandably for everyone involved.”
Paying tribute to daughter Chloe, Lisa continued: “Chloe just lived life to the fullest. They were, you know, in their prime of life, enjoying college, new jobs, university and they had plans.”
Their MP, Emma Lewell-Buck, told GB News: “They felt very disrespected in the meeting. The Home Office Minister from the Lords was quite patronising.”
A government spokesperson said last night: “The government remains steadfast in our commitment to the families whose lives have been devastated by the senseless attack at Manchester Arena.
“Currently, after an inquest all details must be provided by the coroner alone, any change to the law would need to consider its wider impact, including how it would affect those bereaved families who do not wish to provide information to register the death when they have already provided this to the inquest.
“We acknowledge the seriousness of this matter and are committed to seeing what can be done via non-legislative means, we have offered the bereaved families the option of being present at the registration of their loved one’s death if they wish to do so.”
- The interviews are broadcast from 6pm on Sunday on Gloria Meets on GB News
