Chloe and Liam parents seek closure with ‘archaic’ law change
Tom ParryThe parents of agent apprentice Chloe Rutherford and her boyfriend Liam Curry, who died during the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, are calling for an urgent change to an "archaic" law to allow them to register their children’s deaths.
Lisa and Mark Rutherford, parents of Chloe, who worked at Westoe Travel in South Shields, and Liam’s mother Caroline Curry, have launched a petition alongside other parents of victims of the terrorist atrocity.
Currently, under the UK’s Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, when a death has been subject to an inquest, the information for the death registration can only be provided by a coroner.
Now, six years on from the bombing, the group are urging the government to change the legislation to be able to provide the information themselves.
“It is so hard to grieve when we cannot even write their names, address and dates of birth on their death certificates. This deeply personal task will be done by the state – we would like the choice to do it ourselves,” their petition says.
“What we are asking as parents is to be allowed to provide personal details. We want to be the ones to give their name, address and date of birth and then finally walk out of the registry office with their certificate, just as we did at birth. What is so hard about that?
“We accept that the coroner must give the cause of death but please allow the grieving parents the choice to do the rest. For us this will give us the opportunity to grieve with that final act.”
Childhood sweethearts Chloe, 17, and Liam, 19, were among 22 people killed in the attack in May 2017 during an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.
Chloe had been working as apprentice at Westoe Travel and had been due to start as a full-time agent the following month.
After their deaths, the couple’s families set up the Chloe and Liam Together Forever Trust in memory of the teenagers, distributing funds among the South Shields community to support young people achieve their potential in sport and the arts.
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