Ex-military policeman hailed a hero for helping Manchester Arena victims

A brave father has been told "You're a hero'' for helping injured victims in the "carnage'' of the Manchester Arena terror attack.

Ex-serviceman Darron Coster used his training from 22 years in the Royal Military Police (RMP) to assist, the public inquiry into the suicide blast heard.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds of others injured when Salman Abedi's shrapnel- packed bomb exploded, sending thousands of nuts and bolts shredding everything in their path.

As panicked crowds fled the scene, Mr Coster ran into the City Room foyer and began helping victims.

Retired judge Sir John Saunders, chairing the inquiry, told him: "You're a hero. You did an amazing job and I'm sure everyone is very grateful for what you did.

"It just goes to show how useful it is for people to have some sort of training so they can give some help on these sort of occasions.''

Mr Coster, who retired from the RMP in 2008, told the inquiry in Manchester that he had served tours of Northern Ireland so was familiar with the aftermath of bomb explosions and had basic first aid training.

He had gone to pick up his son after the Ariana Grande concert that night.

He said: "Almost immediately as I arrived I heard a small explosion. I saw a flash of dust and light from above the concourse area.

"I started to walk towards where I saw the explosion was. I got partway up the stairs, people were evacuating quite rapidly.''

Mr Coster described the scene as "carnage'' and said the first thing he did was to shut the doors to the foyer room.

"I could see something through the doors,'' he said. "I just thought 'Nobody needs to see that'.''

He said some Arena staff, who he described as "teenagers'', were helping, but others were in "quite a state'' and appeared unsure what to do so he began to triage the injured.

"I told them if people were not responding you should leave them; if they could communicate, stay with them and provide them with reassurance.

"If you keep somebody talking you have got more chance of them staying alive.''

Mr Coster made several laps of the room, assisting people.

He used a man's belt and a woman's handbag strap as tourniquets to stem the bleeding of a couple who had suffered leg injuries, and then helped a young man with serious facial and torso injuries.

The youngster's phone rang with a call from his mother, and Mr Coster told her: "He's been involved in the bomb in the Arena. It looks like he will be OK.''

While he was helping a woman who was lying injured on a table from the merchandise stall, her phone also rang.

As a policewoman used a T-shirt to apply pressure to the woman's wounds, Mr Coster reassured the caller, her mother, that she was alive and likely to survive.

After 35 minutes, Mr Coster realised he could do no more and left the scene at 11.08pm.

He then saw "a number'' of ambulances parked outside.

Attack survivor Kim Dick, in a statement, criticised the time it took for emergency services to respond after she helped two injured young girls.

"I'm angry about this and so upset it took in excess of an hour before any paramedics or medically trained person attended the girls, checking on them,'' she said.

"I was aware of other people injured all around me.''

The inquiry is looking at events surrounding the bombing on May 22 2017.

The hearing was adjourned until next week.