Lawyers representing victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing say their focus is now on ensuring they are helped to ‘live their best possible lives’ and are ‘fully compensated for the ‘unimaginable suffering’ they’ve endured’.
Hudgell Solicitors represent more than 150 survivors of the attack and families who lost loved ones, they say that after more than five-and-a-half years of investigations and inquiries looking back over the events prior to and on May 22 2017, the time has now come to look forward.
Solicitor Terry Wilcox says it is a must if those affected are to ‘be given the best opportunity to make the most of the rest of their lives’, adding that the Public Inquiry has highlighted ‘catastrophic failures’ by those duty bound to protect them.
It comes as he also called for new laws to be introduced to ensure ‘the full truth’ is uncovered during investigations and inquires, and for extra responsibility to be placed upon the Government for ensuring lessons are truly learnt and changes made.
“Today needs to be a day where significant lines are drawn in the sand with regards to this inquiry, future inquires and in holding people and organisations responsible,” said Mr Wilcox, as he attended the publication of the final Volume of Chairman Sir John Saunders’ findings at the Inquiry.
“It will be six years in May since this attack caused unimaginable suffering to hundreds of people, and this inquiry has been running for two-and-a-half years. The focus in all that time has been on what happened and why, but it must now switch to helping those who suffered so badly for their futures, and ensuring this doesn’t happen again.
“We need to be helping the hundreds of people whose lives were so badly affected to now live their best possible lives, with a focus on ensuing the best possible outcomes for each and every person who was there that night, and whose lives have been left forever changed.
“They need to be fully compensated for the unimaginable suffering they’ve endured, and that means much more than financially, ensuring the very best result is achieved for each and every individual from a social and wellbeing perspective, securing them the vital rehabilitation and support they need to help them towards a better future.
“Whilst we can never erase the horrors of the past, we can hopefully now work to help people towards a better future.”
Call for Duty of Candour at Inquiries to ensure ‘full truth’ is told
Mr Wilcox expressed his frustration at what he called ‘damage limitation evidence’ offered to the investigations and inquiries which have been held over the past five-and-half-years, and says change is required to ensure ‘the full truth’ is uncovered during such processes.
“What use is the truth if it is only the part truth and not the whole truth?” he said. “We’ve seen examples in the investigations and inquiry into this terror attack where key witness accounts have changed, even to the point that people have admitted making deliberate omissions in statements that have been made.
“How can we accept that? We see too much damage limitation evidence being given at inquiries like this, as there is currently no legal sanction to ensure the full truth is told. It doesn’t help anyone in terms of lessons being learnt for the future if key witnesses turn up and give selective evidence.”
Mr Wilcox supports the campaign for a new ‘Hillsborough Law’, which would see a ‘Duty of Candour’ introduced, requiring public authorities and officials to proactively cooperate with official investigations. It would potentially make it a criminal offence to not tell the full truth to investigations immediately.
It was one of 25 recommendations set out by former Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd James Jones, in his paper published in November 2017. The Labour Party have committed to enacting the Bill in full should they secure power, but as yet, a response is still awaited from the Government.
Mr Wilcox, who also represented the Hillsborough families at the second inquest, is also calling for a central register of all recommendations made from public inquiries, investigations and inquests to be held by the Government, and for a newly established committee to be handed responsibility for ensuring they are not just delivered, but maintained and updated.
“The process needs changing. We can’t keep having Public Inquires which hear months, possibly years of evidence, to end with hundreds of recommendations and statements from organisations responsible saying ‘lessons have been learnt’, but no true system of accountability,” he said.
“It is vital that more power is given to these inquiries moving forward, and it needs to be done now given the huge number of lessons to be learnt and recommendations from the Manchester Arena Inquiry.
“At present I’m not sure that anyone really knows if these recommendations are acted upon. How will we know what’s happened in five years’ time? And if we don’t know, how can that be acceptable?”
“At present, once a Public Inquiry finishes, the chair loses any form of power to follow up on their recommendations. What we need now is accountability in the short, medium and long term. We need action and continual assessments, and also punishments for organisations, be they private or publicly led, for not delivering the changes required in the timeframes asked.
“That can only be done through the Government leading on this and establishing a dedicated Parliamentary committee now which has this as its dedicated job.
Manchester Arena attack compensation claims now being prepared
Hudgell Solicitors are now carefully preparing civil claims for compensation, which are planned to be commenced against defendants before the end of the year.
“Throughout the inquiry we saw organisations steadfastly deny being at any level of fault, but thankfully the Chairman saw through that and made it clear in his various reports and findings that serious errors contributed to this attack happening,” he said.
“There are organisations who have been exposed for catastrophic failures in their duties and responsibilities to protect everybody who was injured at Manchester Arena, yet in close to six years since that attack happened, no organisation has stepped forward with an offer to make things right for those who have suffered so immeasurably.
“Every day we speak to families who lost loved ones, and to the people who were left so badly injured, both physically and psychologically, by what happened. It is a lifelong impact for them and we’ve had to partner with others willing to offer services and support out of their own pockets.
“Many have been left with life-changing injuries, many have been unable to work, and many have been left struggling to return anywhere close to the lives they lived before. They must be our focus now.”
Manchester Arena Bombing Compensation Claims
Our team of leading civil liberties and serious personal injury solicitors can represent anybody who has suffered loss and injury directly as a result of attending at the Manchester Arena on the night of the bombing.
Compensation will be sought for the pain and suffering caused by physical and psychological injuries, for loss of earnings (since the attack and into the future), rehabilitation and treatment, care needs and any broader impact on life.
If you suffered injury in the Manchester Arena bombing and are yet to secure legal support, call our team today or complete our short claim form.
