Family of Manchester victim Nell Jones, 14, urge parents not to wrap kids 'in cotton wall'

The family of a 14-year-old girl killed in the Manchester bombing has urged other parents not to "wrap children in cotton wool".

The parents of Nell Jones, whose friend Freya Lewis has been seriously injured in hospital, also said yesterday she was "singing in the car" all the way to the concert.

Her family are one of the last of the 22 victims to pay public tribute to their loved one.

Nell, from Goostrey in Cheshire, was the subject of a missing persons campaign on Facebook before being named on Wednesday.

"Our Nell was just lovely," said the statement, released via Greater Manchester Police.

"She was top class, she was clever and she was fun. She would have a go at anything and just loved life.

"She had her dad and her brothers wrapped around her little finger. She loved shopping and she loved to spend money."

The family also described her as a "great friend and listener" and talked of how she was trying to get tickets for pop singer Harry Styles for a friend, despite being a huge Ed Sheeran fan.

"We can’t wrap our children in cotton wool," they added.

"She was so excited to go to her first pop concert. She was singing in the car, all the way there.

"We have had a phenomenal response from everyone, Nell’s school, the police and the local community have been incredible. The response has really restored our faith in humanity.

"Even though she has been taken from us we’ve had 14 lovely years with her and that makes us so happy. They were the best years. We were so lucky to have her.

"Our hearts have been shattered. We loved Nell so very much, she was our world."

The parents of 18-year-old Georgina Callander from Chorley, who was the first victim to be named, also broke silence by criticising the government in a TV interview last night and in a statement issued yesterday.

"I wish I could say that Georgina is one of the last to die in this way but unless our government opens its eyes we know we are only another in a long line of parents on a list that continues to grow," said the statement, which also described how the health and social care student recently passed her driving test and had been accepted into Edge Hill University.

"Her life was taken away after 18 short years by evil, evil men prepared to ruin lives and destroy families, for what?"

Father Simon Callander, who runs a plastering firm, was audibly emotional when contacted by telephone yesterday and politely declined to add anything further.

Separately, in a story that typifies the united response to Monday's bombing, one mother-of-three has suggested she is willing to adopt the daughter of a victim.

Caroline Davies was waiting with Wendy Fawell for their kids at the Ariana Grande gig when the nail bomb killed her friend and left her badly injured.

The 39-year-old is quoted in the Sunday People as saying Ms Fawell's 15-year-old daughter Charlotte "can live here if she wants to".

Charlotte said: "Caroline has already been like a second mum to me so I know she will look after me."

Prime Minister Theresa May, talking to the Sunday Express, has also described her Tuesday visit to Manchester Children's Hospital as "harrowing", and described one of the young bed-ridden girls she met as "incredibly brave".

Meanwhile, the Great Manchester Run went ahead as planned yesterday after a minute's silence at the start line, and as armed police mingled with spectators.

City mayor Andy Burnham, who was one of the thousands to compete, said: "It was a difficult decision and we took advice from the police and the security services.

"But the consensus always was that if we were to cancel, that's a victory for those who seek to disrupt our way of life, and I don't think we were prepared to give them that victory."

Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop and former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson also made appearances.

American Dathan Ritzenhein and Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba won the 10km men's and women's elite race with times of 28 minutes six seconds and 31 minutes three seconds respectively.