Manchester's darkest day gave Figen Murray the drive to press for Martyn's Law... six years on, the King seems to have made it a reality

May 22, 2017, was Manchester’s darkest night. 22 lives were lost after they were tragically murdered by a suicide bomber at the Arena.

But it led to countless more people’s lives being left in tatters. The friends and families of the 22 victims saw their worlds turned upside down.

One of those was Figen Murray, the mother of Martyn Hett. She lost her son aged just 29, and nothing was ever the same again.

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But she turned her anger into something more — a positive change to help prevent further tragedies like the one which killed Martyn. Now, after six years of campaigning, Figen has seen her hard work come to fruition.

That’s because the law — which will place venues under a legal duty to draw up specific security plans for any terror attack and those with a capacity more than 800 required to carry out a risk assessment as part of a 'thorough security plan' — looks set to be passed this year. It was included in the King’s Speech on Tuesday (November 7).

“At a time when threats to national security are changing rapidly due to new technology, my ministers will give the security and intelligence services the powers they need and will strengthen independent judicial oversight,” King Charles III said in his first State Opening of Parliament as monarch. “Legislation will be introduced to protect public premises from terrorism in light of the Manchester Arena attack.”

His address was British politics seen at its most pompous and ceremonial and serves as confirmation that Figen’s tireless efforts will come to fruition. It follows the government publishing a