RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES
Tunisia beach attack inquest shown chilling new video of tourists fleeing massacre in Sousse and gunman being dropped off at the resort
HORRIFYING footage shows terrified holidaymakers fleeing for their lives as a gunman went on the rampage at a luxury Tunisian beach resort.
Several people are seen sprinting along the beach, while others take a few moments to realise something is wrong in the chilling video, shown at an inquest.
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One man dives under the front of a boat, crawling around the side for protection from the bullets before running into the sea.
The footage shows speedboats passing close to the shore as the terror unfolds.
Thirty Britons were among the 38 people killed in Sousse when Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi carried out a sickening massacre on the beach and inside a five-star hotel in June 2015.
A video showing the gunman being dropped off by a white van and casually walking off with a hold-all was also shown.
Footage also shows him stalking through the lobby of the hotel.
The inquest, at London's Royal Courts of Justice, was attended by the relatives of the Britons who died.
Video played on the first day also showed the moment 72-year-old grandfather Bruce Wilkinson, from East Yorkshire, was shot.
A woman, believed to be a member of his family, left before it played out.
The inquest also heard that failings by local police could have prolonged the attack, according to a report by a Tunisian judge.
It suggests some security forces had deliberately delayed their arrival at the scene, said Samantha Leek QC, counsel to the inquest.
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Ms Leek said: "He (the judge) said the units that should have intervened in the events deliberately and unjustifiably slowed down to delay their arrival at the hotel.
"They had the ability to put an end to the attack before the police arrived but wasted a considerable amount of time in getting to the hotel."
The gunman's route - approximately 1.8 miles (2.9km) from the point he was dropped off to the point he was killed - was also digitally reconstructed.
It used photos of the victims to show where they died as the gunman prowled around the beach and hotel.
Ms Leek told the court that an armed guard on the beach had opened fire on Rezgui, but fell to the ground "seemingly unconscious" after the gunman threw a grenade.
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A local speedboat driver, named as Al, picked up the guard's gun and confronted the attacker, but was unable to operate the weapon.
The inquest heard that Rezgui had entered the Imperial Marhaba Hotel "from the beach, carrying an automatic weapon and a number of explosives".
The hearing is scheduled to last seven weeks and will also look at security in place at the hotel by holiday company TUI and the travel advice issued by the UK Government.
Many families are said to have reservations about whether the Foreign Office properly warned people of the risks of travelling to Tunisia.
The attack came three months after 24 people died in an attack on the Bardo museum in the country's capital, Tunis.
Families were also shown a chilling reconstruction following the ISIS killer's path during the bloody rampage as he calmly made his way down the beach in Sousse massacring tourists.
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Relatives watched as the computer-generated clip was played, showing where each holidaymaker was sat as Rezgui launched his attack, making his way up through the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel as he slaughtered some 30 Brits.
The hearing was also told local cops deliberately stalled on their way to the five-star hotel.
Samantha Leek QC, counsel to the inquest, told the court that a report by Tunisian Judge Akremi had identified failings by local officers which could have ended the slaughter sooner.
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In a courtroom packed with relatives of the victims, Ms Leek said that an unnamed interior minister had told the judge some Tunisian security officers nearby had consciously slowed down their arrival.
She said: "He said the units that should have intervened in the events deliberately and unjustifiably slowed down to delay their arrival at the hotel.
"They had the ability to put an end to the attack before the police arrived but wasted a considerable amount of time in getting to the hotel.
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The lead-up to the full inquest opening on Monday saw the Government apply for certain elements of the inquests to be kept private over concerns about national security.
An earlier hearing was told that many families feared the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) may have failed in its responsibilities to thousands of British tourists.
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Some of the families of those caught in the Sousse attack said they had been assured by tour operator Thomson that it was safe to travel to Tunisia after the Bardo attack.
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TUI, the travel company that owns Thomson, is represented at the inquest, as is the Government.
Ms Leek said the inquest would hear evidence "critical of TUI" as well as witnesses on behalf of the firm.
LAD WHO LOST THREE LOVED ONES
SOUSSE hero Owen Richards who lost three family members in the attack attended yesterday's inquest.
The 17-year-old was pictured as he left the Royal Courts of Justice with his mum Suzanne Richards. Owen, of Wednesbury, West Midlands, was a hero survivor of the attacks in which he lost his uncle Adrian Evans, 49, grandfather Charles Evans, 78, and brother Joel Richards, 19. He has previously described as he "kept running" as bullets and bombs ripped through the hotel. A bullet grazed his shoulder before killing his dad stood next to him in the atrocity. The inquest court was packed with relatives and survivors as they relived the terrorist nightmare.
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