Cowards: How Tunisia police '˜could have saved lives' in beach massacre

Relatives arrive at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, ahead of the inquest into the deaths of 30 Britons in the Tunisia beach terror attack.

On June 26, Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse, killing 38 tourists, including 30 Britons.

They included Bruce Wilkinson, from Goole, Claire Windass, from Hull, and Chris and Sharon Bell, from Leeds.

The inquest into the deaths of the Britons at the Royal Courts of Justice heard that lives could have been saved and that the police and security teams’ response “amounts to an offence”.

A summary of Tunisian Judge Akremi’s report was read out in court and included an assessment by the Secretary of State to the minister of the interior responsible for security matters.

He had examined cameras which “showed that the tourist security team vehicle patrol and bike patrol deliberately slowed down and did not intervene to stop the terrorist attack at that time”.

He explained that this patrol was “prepared and equipped to intervene”, but did not do so.

The patrol committed “what is considered a serious mistake, and that its delay was deliberate and unjustifiable”.

He referred to a unit which went in search of more body armour and weapons instead of going straight to the scene of the incident - a move he said was “unjustifiable” as the vehicle was equipped with enough weapons to stop the attack.

That particular team did not arrive at the hotel until after the terrorist was killed, the inquest heard.

The assessment said this was “unjustifiable” and that what this team did “amounts to an offence for which it must take the blame”.

The inquest heard from the head of the operations room for the Northern Sousse National Security as part of the Akremi report summary.

That person, whose role was to coordinate the various security authorities, said the refusal to intervene to stop the attack was “due to simple cowardice, when they could have prevented the loss of life”.

The report summary referred to the divisional head of the Tourist Security Police in Sousse, saying: “He stated that he panicked and was afraid because there was an armed attack on the tourist area for which he was responsible.”