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“I think I saw the Manchester bomber just moments before blast”

Vicki McFarlane with Kacey-Jai at the concert.
Vicki McFarlane with Kacey-Jai at the concert.

An Aberdeenshire mum believes she may have seen the bomber just moments before the blast.

Vicki McFarlane, from Ellon, had left the packed venue as the last song was being played alongside 10-year-old daughter Kacey-Jai.

The pair had been trying to beat the crowds but were going into the toilet when she noticed the man who she said even at the time made her suspicious – before she even had reason to be.

“He just seemed to be loitering but seemed to be paying us and everyone else a lot of attention,” she said.

“It made me feel uneasy before I had a reason to be, he didn’t seem like a regular concert-goer.

“As much as it could have been him, it could have been anyone else but there was just something not right about him.”

Mrs McFarlane reported the man to the anti-terror police and also spoke to officers when she arrived back in Aberdeen yesterday afternoon.

The concert had been a birthday treat for Kacey-Jai’s birthday, and followed a day of shopping and sightseeing.

When they heard the explosion, instinct took over and Mrs McFarlane told her daughter to start running.

“When I was running all that was going through my head were the scenes in Paris that I’d watched on the TV.

“I just wanted to get my daughter to safety, she was hysterical and absolutely terrified.”

Eventually they made it back to their hotel where they were greeted by staff who were still unaware of the true extent of the attack.

More people began flooding through the doors of the building, some who had witnessed the carnage left behind in the wake of the bomb.

A sleepless night followed for Mrs McFarlane, with Kacey-Jai frequently waking up startled.

Last night, she said they were both traumatised by the experience.

“She’s (Kacey-Jai) trying to block out what happened, I’m going to give her a few days to see how she’s doing. At the moment, we’re both pretty traumatised.

“I really don’t know how I’d feel going back to something like that right now, I don’t know how I would feel in a space like that. Hopefully you can go along and not let it get to you, and not let them win.”