Manchester Arena attack: Mum wants right to register son’s death

Caroline Curry wants the 69-year-old law governing the registering of deaths to be updated

The mother of a teenager murdered in the Manchester Arena bombing is campaigning for the right to register the death of her child.

Caroline Curry, whose 19-year-old son Liam died, urged the home secretary to "look in her heart" and change the law.

Current legislation prevents family members from registering the deaths of loved ones who are the focus of inquests or public inquiries.

Instead, deaths have to be formally registered by a "local registrar".

Mrs Curry, from South Shields, said registering Liam's death was the "last thing I can do for my child and it shouldn't be the case that some antiquated law dictates I am not allowed to".

She told the BBC: "I'm his mam and that is my job."

Liam and his 17-year-old girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, also from South Shields, were murdered with 20 other people following a concert in Manchester on 22 May 2017.

The 22 deaths are being investigated by a public inquiry, which started as inquests.

Liam Curry, 19, and Chloe Rutherford, 17, were killed in the terror attack in May 2017

Ms Curry said she was shocked to discover she was forbidden from registering Liam's death and that she could not believe she had been the first person to question the law.

She said it would be "very easy" to make a change.

The law in question is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, which contains no provision for anyone other than the local registrar to register a death which is subject to an inquest.

Emma Lewell-Buck, Labour MP for South Shields, has raised the issue in the House of Commons and this week wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel asking her to "listen to the needs of grieving families" and "consider changes to the relevant legislation".

'Look in the mirror'

Ms Lewell-Buck said: "Chloe and Liam's parents lost their precious children" but that "legislation drafted decades ago states that due to the nature of their deaths this registration will be done by strangers, people who never knew Chloe, Liam or their loved ones".

Ms Curry asked Ms Patel to "look in the mirror, look in your heart, and you tell me as a parent, if it was your child, you would be happy with a stranger registering your child's death?".

During exchanges in the Commons this month, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a "very important issue".

It is understood a minister recently met MPs campaigning for a change.

In a statement the Home Office said: "The people who were killed or had their lives changed forever in the Manchester Arena attack remain at the forefront of our thoughts.

"The Births and Deaths Registration Act outlines that any death which results in an inquest, including mass casualty events, must be registered by the local registrar on receipt of the coroner's certificate.

"Victims' families are able to request a copy of a death certificate following registration."