Nell Jones
2003 – 2017
Manchester Arena, Manchester
Perpetrators
Nell Jones, aged 14, from Holmes Chapel, Cheshire 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.
The popular schoolgirl, who went to the concert with a friend, was praised by her teachers and classmates.
Her friend Alex said she felt “honoured to tell people I knew her,” adding: “I see gaps when I’m out where Nell should be. She should be with us, with her contagious smile”.
Rest in peace Nell. You will not be forgotten.