John Atkinson

John Atkinson, aged 28, from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester 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. 

John Atkinson’s parents, Daryl and Kevan, said he had “loved everyone and everyone loved him”.

They said the 28-year-old, who worked with young adults with autism and behavioural difficulties, was the “perfect son” who “would help anyone”.

He was “extremely clever”, they said, with an IQ of 137 at the age of eight and a former winner of Slimming World’s Man of the Year after losing eight-and-a-half stone in weight.

His older sister Laura said she would “never get over what happened to him”, adding: “We’ve lost the biggest and best part of our puzzle. It can never be fixed now.”

Rest in peace John. You will not be forgotten.