THE inquiry into the 2017 Manchester Arena attack has heard a family tribute to Cheshire Police officer DC Elaine McIver, one of the 22 victims of the bomb blast.

The inquiry on Monday, September 21, heard Ms McIver, 43, “embraced life” and was “gusto and gung-ho”, her sister Lynda told the hearing.

Ms McIver grew up in Ellesmere Port and served Cheshire Constabulary for 20 years, working in her hometown and also Warrington and Winsford before moving to the regional organised crime unit, Titan.

Lynda added Ms McIver was a “very private person” and her family, including parents Frank and Patricia, were not initially planning to put together a pen portrait but then changed their minds and decided on a video presentation of photographs with Coldplay song Clocks playing in the background.

Introducing the portrait, her sister said: “She was very much loved and very much a massive pivotal part of our family.

“So how do you begin to talk about someone who was such a big part of your life? Well the thing is you don’t, you just can’t say in a short period of time what somebody meant to you and how much they meant to you, and how much she loved us and how much we loved her so much.

“So instead the old saying goes ‘a picture says a thousand words’ and I hope this little presentation of photographs from our family album will give just a little bit of a taste of the character that Elaine was, the attitude she had and her lust for life, and the way she was a cheeky little girl from the minute she was born.

“She just embraced life, she was gusto and gung-ho, just a joy to be around and she would hate to be remembered as a victim.”

Ms McIver, a detective constable with the force, was waiting in the foyer with her partner to collect his young daughter and her friend from the Ariana Grande concert that had been taking place that night.

In the days following the attack, then-Cheshire Chief Constable Simon Byrne and the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner also paid tribute.

Chief Constable Byrne said: “Friends who knew her well have described her as big-hearted, bubbly and a positive person.

“We are supporting her family at this very difficult time, and will be providing support for friends and colleagues from the constabulary as we come to terms with the loss of an officer in such tragic and heart-rending circumstances.”

Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane said: “I know this is an extremely difficult time and that great sadness has been felt across the constabulary and the wider community – from colleagues and friends in Cheshire to her current team at Titan.”

DC McIver joined the police as a ‘Special’ 20 years ago and became a regular officer in September 1998.

She worked in Ellesmere Port, Warrington and in the force's economic crime unit at headquarters in Winsford before moving to Titan in 2013.

In Ellesmere Port, a vigil was held in the Civic Square.

The inquiry continues on Tuesday and the commemorative part of the hearings will conclude this week. The public inquiry, chaired by Sir John Saunders, is to examine the background to the attack by suicide bomber Salman Abedi and the response of the emergency services and will conclude next spring.

The brother of the Manchester Arena bomber was last month jailed for at least 55 years for the murders of 22 people.