Yahoo News Manchester attack 'hero' stole purse from teenage victim's grandmother while she lay injured, court hears
A man hailed as a "homeless hero" after the Manchester Arena bombing stole the purse of a teenage victim's grandmother while she lay stricken, a court has heard.
Chris Parker, 33, is alleged to have taken Pauline Healey's purse and its contents from her handbag while she was on the ground of the foyer.
Mrs Healey's granddaughter - 14-year-old Sorrell Leczkowski, from Leeds - was among the 22 people killed by Salman Abedi after an Ariana Grande concert in May.
Parker is also accused of taking the mobile phone of another teenage girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
He entered formal not guilty pleas to the two charges when he appeared at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutors allege that Parker took a purse, containing bank cards, from Mrs Healey's handbag as she lay on the ground.
Ben Southam, prosecuting, said it was clear that the defendant provided "some limited assistance" to people injured at the entrance to the venue's foyer, but it was the Crown's case that he "equally" took the opportunity to commit the thefts.
Mrs Healey had attended the concert with Sorrell and Sorrell's mother, Samantha.
The grandmother later underwent 15 hours of surgery to remove shrapnel from her body and suffered multiple compound fractures to her arms and legs, while Sorrell's mother was also seriously injured.
Parker, who gave his address as Crumpsall, Manchester, was remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at Manchester Crown Court on September 13.
District Judge John Temperley said the case was too serious to be dealt with within his jurisdiction and must be heard in a crown court.
As Parker was led from the dock after the short hearing, he said: "I have done nothing. Absolutely nothing."
Sorrell, who was a pupil at Allerton High School in Leeds, was hoping to be an architect and wanted to study at Columbia University in New York.
On the day of her funeral, her family said: "Sorrell was only 14, but she was our rock, she kept us all grounded. She was such a clever, talented, creative girl, there was nothing she couldn't do."
Abedi killed 22 people when he detonated a home-made bomb packed with metal nuts as shrapnel moments after the concert ended on May 22. Police have said they do not believe he was part of a larger terror network.
Following the attack, Parker had described witnessing the blast and tending to the injured.
Speaking at the time, he said: “It knocked me to the floor and then I got up and instead of running away, my gut instinct was to run back and try and help. There was people lying on the floor everywhere.”
He told how he had wrapped an injured girl in a T-shirt and tending to a woman who passed away in his arms.
More than £50,000 was raised for him on the GoFundMe website following reports of the help he had given.
