Manchester arena victim's best friend to walk her Mother down the aisle

The best friend of a 15-year-old girl killed in the Manchester Arena bombing will walk her mother down the aisle later this year.

Olivia Campbell-Hardy's friend, Adam Lawler, 15, will give Charlotte Campbell away at her wedding in Bury in November.

Adam, also aged 15, went with Olivia to the fateful Ariane Grande concert on May 22 and was seriously injured in the blast.

He needed a number of operations in hospital to remove shrapnel from his body and a month later attended Olivia's funeral in Tottington in a wheelchair, as mourners dressed in the schoolgirl's favourite colour of blue.

The colour is also set to strongly feature at the wedding of Olivia's mother and her fiance, Paul Hodgson.

Ms Campbell told the Manchester Evening News: "Olivia had expressed her wish for me and Paul to be married from the day we got engaged and she would have been our bridesmaid.

"She had planned everything so I'm trying to do as many of them as possible. Asking Adam to give me away was an amazing time. I'm so proud of him.

"Everyone says I'm strong but he is stronger then me. He has to live every day with the memory of what happened that night - and his injuries and losing his best friend. He is an inspiration and I couldn't be prouder to know him and be part of his life."

In a separate interview with the Daily Mail, Adam said that three days after the attack, he awoke and asked his mother what had happened to Olivia.

He said: "'I was physically sick when she told me she had gone.

"I still cry about it. I miss Olivia a lot and I blame myself for her death. I feel I should have protected her. She was so excited to go to the gig. She loved music and was so funny.'

He added that the name of suicide bomber Salman Abedi "makes my blood boil".

He said: I don't care who he was, all I know is I'm alive and he's dead - he didn't deserve to be alive. It is to the shame of the Government that he was allowed to go to Libya and come back here.

"He was on an anti-terror watchlist but the Government did nothing and 22 people are dead. There should be closer analysis of the terrorist threat and more defensive action taken."

AP