'New law means my son did not die for nothing'

The mother of a man killed in the Manchester area bombing has said winning a campaign for a new anti-terror law meant "he did not die for nothing".

Figen Murray, whose six-year campaign led to the creation of The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, also known as Martyn's Law, said her son would have been "thrilled" were he alive today.

The legislation, which was given Royal Assent on Thursday, means some public venues will be required by law to have tighter security.

Martyn, 29, was among 22 people killed in May 2017 bombing when 22-year-old suicide bomber Salman Abedi targeted an Ariana Grande concert.

Ms Murray said: "Hopefully [Martyn] would be really thrilled and somewhere along the line he might think he hasn't died for nothing," Ms Murray told BBC Radio Manchester.

Ms Murray's campaign included a 200-mile (321km) trek to Downing Street last year to deliver a letter calling for the introduction of the law to the then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

She said: "I'm not sure if the walk to London was super enjoyable because we had to train ourselves up for it.

"But we met fantastic people every morning during that walk, and throughout the campaign we had politicians supporting us, mayors, people from the security industry, and celebrities, too."

Ms Murray said she now needed to go on her own "emotional journey".

"For me what is important now is that I start grieving for Martyn and have some therapy and look after myself physically as well.

"I knew [the campaign] would be hard work and that I needed to pack up my emotions into a box and put it onto a shelf.

"It's now to time to get that box down, look at it and finally make that emotional journey."

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