Pick Me Up! Special – September 2019

HowFigenMurray

hasfound

peace as she grieves for her son...

WORDS

BY

LUCY

BRYANT

IMAGES:

SWNSF

igenMurray,58,wasin bed

as shelearntof thehorror

unfoldingat Manchester

arenaon 22 May2017.

Herson,MartynHett,29,

wasoneof thethousandsof fans

watchingpopstar,ArianaGrande,

performlive,whena suicide

bombersetoffa blast,killing 22 and

injuring 139 more.

Astheconcertendedandyoung

fansandwaitingparentsdescended

intothelobby,theblastwentoff.

Witnessesrecallboltsandnails

blastingpasttheirheads,in

horrifyingaccountsfromthenight

of theattack.

Martynwasoneof thevictims

whowastragicallykilled.

Now,overtwoyearsonfromthe

attack,Figenis tryingto cometo

termswiththelossof hersonandis

honouringMartyn’smemoryby

teachingchildrenaboutthedangers

of radicalisation.

Shesaid,‘I wantto helpprotect

ourfuturegenerations.

‘I ama brokenwoman.Martyn

wasourshininglight.ButI didn’t

wantto holdonto theangerforever.

‘I knewI hadto forgivethe

attacker,in

orderto cope.

Figenis nowananti-terror

campaignerandlivesin Stockport

withherGPhusbandStuart, 52,

Martyn’sstepfather.

Aswellas Figen’ssonDaniel, 34,

andStuart’sdaughter,Emma, 31,

thecouplealsoshareLouise, 21,

andNikita,8.

Figensays,‘We’reanextremely

closefamily.Martyn

wasalwayseccentric

as a child– puttingon

showsandchargingus

10pto watch.

‘Whenhewas16,

hetoldmehewasgay,

butas hisMum,I

alreadyknew.

‘Hemadefriends

whereverhewent,’sheadded.

Aftermovingto Londonfor uni,

Martynmovedbackupnorth and

hada hugeimpactonManchester’s

gaycommunity.

HewasknownforhisLGBT

activismandforhisloveof

CoronationStreet– heevenmade

headlinesforhavinga tattoo of his

favouritecharacter,DeirdreBarlow,

etchedontohisleg.

Butjusttwodaysafterhedied,

Martynwasdueto leavefora trip

of a lifetime.

Figensays:‘Hehada brilliant

careerin PR,buthewantedthe

chanceto travel.

‘He was going on a two-month

trip to America and the week before

the concert, he’d had a big leaving

party with his friends.’

Figen had seen her son just the

day before the concert.

She says, ‘I’d been helping him

shop for his travels.

‘We’d spent the morning

laughing and joking

and I hugged him tight

when I dropped him

back at his flat – I was

going to take him to

the airport just three

days later.’

But Martyn never

got the chance to go on

his trip.

On that Monday night, Figen had

gone to bed when she was woken by

her daughter Louise, telling her

there had been an incident at

Manchester Arena.

Figen didn’t even know Martyn

was at the concert that night but

immediately raced downstairs,

where Stuart was watching the

footage unfold.

She says, ‘We were panicked, but

Stuart tried to reassure us that

Martyn would have probably just

run out of phone battery, like usual.’

They stayed in front of the news

until 11:15pm, desperately trying to

forgive

Everydaywasa joy

withMartynaround

He was

going on

the trip of

a lifetime

I can’t hold on to

the anger forever