- Nell Jones, 14, died at an Ariana Grande concert with a friend on May 22, 2017
- She was one of 22, including many other children, murdered by terrorists
- A year on, her mother Jayne admits she’ll never get over her daughter’s death
- She breaks down crying while cooking dinner for one less person some nights
- Nell’s room became a shrine because she couldn’t bear to throw anything out
Nell Jones, 22, was one of 22 concertgoers killed in the Manchester Arena attack a year ago on Tuesday by several bombs set by terrorists
Sometimes when Jayne Jones is cooking dinner, tears will start streaming down her face because there’s a missing place at the table.
Her daughter Nell was one of 22 concertgoers killed in the Manchester Arena attack a year ago on Tuesday by several bombs set by terrorists.
The last time she saw the 14-year-old was in the car park of her school as she ran off to get read to go to the Ariana Grande concert with her friend Freya.
A year on, the heartbroken mother admitted she and her family would never get over her death and would have to learn to live with the grief.
‘The smallest little thing will come into your mind and all of a sudden you’re upset. You just can’t get your head around the fact that she’s not here,’ she told the Manchester Evening News.
‘Cooking a meal at night, you’ve got one less place at the table. You can be stood there cooking with tears pouring down your face because she’s not there.’
Writing Christmas cards was also difficult because after 14 years she couldn’t bear to not include her name on any of them.
Ms Jones tried to stop herself from turning Nell’s bedroom into a shrine,but couldn’t bear to clean the makeup smudges off her mirror.
The last time her mother saw Nell (pictured with her brothers) was in the car park of her school as she ran off to get read to go to the show with her friend Freya
A year on, the heartbroken mother admitted she and her family would never get over her death and would have to learn to live with the grief
She wouldn’t throw out any of her things, like her bubble bath, and even bought Harry Potter themed makeup brushes and put them on her dressing table – like she was going to walk through the door.
Ms Jones said she put up a front all day so others wouldn’t see the pain she was holding inside, but it all came out when she was alone.
‘Sometimes you can cry all day. You look forward going to bed at night so you can have a few hours and it’s not there. But then you wake up again the next morning and the pain is there again,’ she said.
Advertisement