Courtney Boyle

Courtney Boyle, aged 19, from Gateshead, Tyne and Wear was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing.

On 22 May 2017, at approximately 10:31 p.m., Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old British-Libyan man born in Manchester to Libyan parents, carried out a suicide bombing at the Manchester Arena in England at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. 

Abedi, a UK citizen who had recently returned from Libya, detonated a TATP-based nail bomb packed with shrapnel in the City Room foyer, killing 22 people (including children) and injuring 1,017 others (239 with physical injuries). 

His younger brother, Hashem Abedi (also British-Libyan), helped source materials and coordinate the attack from Libya; he was later convicted in the UK of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to cause an explosion, receiving a life sentence with a minimum term of 55 years. 

Courtney Boyle was killed, along with her stepfather Philip Tron, as they waited to pick up her sister from the Ariana Grande concert.

Her mother Deborah Hutchinson said she had become “a gorgeous woman with a caring nature to match” and was studying criminology and psychology at Leeds Beckett University with the aim of joining the Prison Service.

Her sister said growing up with her had been “like growing up with a best friend” who had “guided all three of us – me, herself and my mam – through darker times, shining a light on these situations [and] ensuring we kept a smile on our face”.

Her boyfriend Callum Maundrill, who had been with her on the day of the attack, said seeing her “blossom gently into the confident, passionate free spirit she was still, to this day, brings me joy, because I was so lucky to bump into her”.

Rest in peace Megan. You will not be forgotten.