Manchester arena bombing: ‘We identified him by Deirdre Barlow tattoo’ (original) (raw)

The family of a Coronation Street “superfan” who was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing identified his body from a tattoo of Deirdre Barlow on his leg, they have said.

The inquiry into the bombing today began hearing of the lives of some of the 22 people killed by Salman Abedi on the night of May 22, 2017, as thousands of people were leaving a concert by Ariana Grande.

Among the first were the family of Martyn Hett, 29, whose father and brothers made a video which showcased his talents as a social media star and soap opera impressionist, and called on others to “be more Martyn”.

Manchester Arena incident

Martyn Hett “loved life with passion, courage and laughter,” his father said

GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE/PA

“Over the years Martyn made many hilarious videos, enjoyed by many all over the world. We hope this lives up to his high standards,” his father said.

The video showed clips from his appearances on Channel Four’s Come Dine with Me and Tattoo Fixers. In the second he had a picture of Deirdre Barlow tattooed on his leg.

His father told the inquiry: “Sadly this was one of the reasons we were able to identify him so soon after the tragedy. After all, who else would have such a thing?”

The family have their favourite photographs of their son around the house, the inquiry heard. “We want to see them but every time we do they break our hearts,” his father said, before breaking down in tears. “His future was so bright. He had just been promoted and was ready for the holiday of a lifetime. This was cruel beyond belief.”

He said that his son “loved life with passion, courage and laughter”, and encouraged others to “be more Martyn,” the title of a play written about him. “In your life you should just go for it, just do it and don’t leave anything out,” Mr Hett said. “This is the way Martyn lived his life and we should all be more Martyn.”

Paul Hett spoke next to his wife, Kath, Martyn’s step-mother, and his other sons, Dan and Matthew, in a film taken in his back garden.

He told the inquest his son was “so full of energy I would need hours and I would only scratch the surface”. As a teenager he had “plucked up the courage to tell us he was gay after stressing about it for a long time”.

“It was something that had been obvious to us for a long time,” Mr Hett said. “We sat him down and told him we didn’t love him because he was straight or gay, we loved him because he was Martyn.”

As a child he was constantly making up plays and forcing his brothers to take part “whether they wanted to or not”. As an adult he worked as a social media manager for a PR company called Rumpus, and started to post his own videos, “every single one starring Martyn”.

Martyn has a fishing boat named after him in the Gambia, his father said. “We have no idea how that came about as he had never been there but such was his influence,” Mr Hett added.

His brother, Dan, described him as “by far away the most confident” of the brothers, and said he was the “loudest, the showman, the centre of attention”.

“It’s been three years but I still reflexively go to text him,” he added.