Homeless 'hero' who helped Manchester terror victims charged with bank card theft from injured woman

A homeless man hailed as a hero after coming to the aide of victims caught in the Manchester Arena terror attack has been charged with the theft of a bank card from a woman injured in the bombing.

In the wake of the attack, which claimed the lives of 22 people attending an Ariana Grande concert, more than £50,000 was raised via a GoFundMe campaign to help Chris Parker turn his life around.

But now the 33-year-old, of no fixed abode, has been charged with two counts of theft, Greater Manchester Police have said.

The force told the Manchester Evening News: "The charges relate to a bank card being stolen from the Manchester Arena on the evening of 22 May 2017."

Parker has been remanded in custody to appear at Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday (15 August).

On the night of the suicide bombing, detonated by Salman Abedi, Parker told The Mirror how he cradled a dying woman aged in her 60's.

"She passed away in my arms," said Parker. "She was in her 60s and said she had been with her family. I haven't stopped crying".

Parker told how he would regularly visit the foyer of the arena to beg for money at the end of concerts.

He told of the moment the blast hit: "As people were coming out of the glass doors I heard a bang. Within a split second I saw a white flash, then smoke and then I heard screaming.

"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."

The attack injured 250 people, many were left with life-changing injuries, and Parker said that he helped a little girl that had been injured.

Since the incident Parker had been reunited with his mother but was reportedly still on the streets.