Victims and Prisoners Bill

Written evidence submitted by Dr Stuart Murray, Bereaved family member of Manchester Arena bombing (VPB36)

I am a survivor of terrorism after my stepson Martyn was killed in the Manchester Arena Attack. I have researched and worked with Survivors Against Terror on the mental health impact of a major incident and made proposals for a new Victims Charter.

I have worked as a General Practitioner for 30 years and was a General Practice Associate Dean for Health Education England prior to the Manchester Arena Attack.

I have travelled to New York to meet survivors of 9/11, Boston to meet survivors of the Marathon shootings and Christchurch to meet people following the Mosque shootings. I have met and talked to many survivors of major incidents from many different attacks.

In 2022, I attended a United Nations symposium in New York for Victims of terrorism. In closing speech, the Under-Secretary-General, Vladimir Voronkov , stated that Governments should work with and include victims in processes to improve the outcomes for survivors of future events. I was very keen to speak to the committee about the role an IPA might have in future major incidents, but unfortunately the Internet across the whole island of Cape Verde dropped just as I was about to join the zoom meeting.

Do you support the principle of having an independent public advocate (IPA) to support victims in the wake of a major incident?

I agree that an IPA could be a useful resource for victims following a major incident. There is well reported gaps in multiple areas of support and care, following major incidents such as mental health, compensation and legal advice. Survivors Against Terror (SAT) is one of many organisations that have gathered data on this, and has produced a charter on recommendations including mental health. In 2018 in partnership with Kantar they commissioned a survey of 271 survivors of terror attacks. 76% rated mental health services as requiring improvement. In 2023, the Bee the Difference report, published by the UK disaster response charity in the aftermath of the Manchester, arena attack, showed that 70% of children received no professional help within the first month and 31% receive no professional help within the first year. More than one on for half still never received any professional support in what is now the sixth year post attack.

What difference would the existence of an independent public advocate have made to you?

Whilst there is a lot of support in the first few days and month following the death of a son in the Manchester, arena attack, the face-to-face, contact and support reduced quickly thereafter. We did not understand the differences between a public inquiry and inquest, and we’re not aware of the necessity for us to have our own solicitors in these processes. We had to pay for private counselling services ourselves as the many signposting organisations that existed around us were simply pointing us to the already broken NHS mental health services in our locality, which already had long delays. There was no system for prioritising people, despite those in authority around us, saying we would get help. As a general practitioner of 30 years standing myself, I realised that if I was struggling to get help, then there would be a little hope for anyone else.

What sorts of skills should an independent public advocate have?

Above all, an IPA needs to be a compassionate and caring person who is able to communicate well with people who are often very confused and angry and upset. They would need to have knowledge of the legal systems, although in many ways, I guess this could be gleaned from asking others. They would need an understanding of how different organisations work and how to interact and communicate with them. Ideally, they would need some kind of authoritative power or financial backup to get things done. We were supported by many people during our own processes, especially during the Manchester arena Inquiry which was led by Sir John Saunders. I understand that Sophie Cartwright, KC, has spoken to the committee. She supported us greatly throughout the Inquiry and is the kind of person I needed for this work.

I also feel that it would be helpful to have survivors themselves involved in this work as there is a mutual understanding between survivors and we often speak amongst ourselves as belonging to the club which no one wants to belong to.

Do you agree that victims and the community affected by a major incident should have a voice in the appointment of an independent public advocate?  Should they have a veto?

There are many different opinions amongst the survivors, not only between different survivor families, but also within families themselves. I think it would be very difficult to get an agreement amongst everybody and ultimately this kind of decision would never agree with everybody and has to be made by somebody above.

If the IPA is appointed by the Secretary of State do you think they will be sufficiently independent?

My understanding is that an IPA will be asked to report to the Secretary of State, but there is no requirement that any such report shall be published or indeed actioned. My concern is that this is just another process of gathering evidence and data which will not be actioned.

What powers do you think the independent public advocate needs to have to effectively represent victims’ interests?

There needs to be a very good system of recording and keeping data around those involved and the data laws regarding how this is collected may need to be altered so that this can be done.

There needs to be a clear mandate of what is required of them. As I have mentioned previously, I am a member of SAT and have worked on producing mental health guidelines. We have suggested a victims charter and that survivors who require mental health support should be triaged within three weeks and if they are deemed to be quiet treatment, that this is then provided within six weeks. Rather than simply signposting people to mental health services, the IPA should be monitoring specific targets of acceptable levels of treatment and reporting back. If these are not achieved, they should then have powers to interact with other governmental departments if standards are falling short. To be effective, the IPA needs to have more than monitoring powers.

Should the IPA be able to establish an independent panel similar to the Hillsborough Independent Panel if it wishes to do so?

I am not sure about this question. My own experience of the Manchester arena Inquiry has been very positive, and I feel that the team led by SiR John Saunders has been very fair. I am aware that some of the family members expressed concerns about closed hearings regarding MI5 and that not none of the family legal teams were involved in these hearings. Perhaps the IPA may act as a go-between in situations like this in someway.

Is there anything else you would like to say to the Committee today?

I feel that the role of an IPA is a positive step in the support of survivors of future, major incidents and terrorist attacks. As I mentioned earlier, my wife and I attended the 2022 global terrorism conference at the United Nations. One of the closing comments, by the undersecretary general, Vladimir Voronkov, was that governments should work with and include victims in processes to improve the outcomes for survivors of future events. Therefore, it follows that victims should be involved in the setting up of a group or panel of people who might support the IPA and that  this is recorded in any outcomes and recommendations you make and that the survivors groups are contacted as we are a big community with a lot of knowledge and experience to offer

Stuart Murray

June 2023