Tunisia terror inquest: Wife of Yorkshire victim tells of escape attempt

The wife of a former Yorkshire power station worker killed in a terror attack on a Tunisian resort today described seeing her husband lying dead after the pair had tried to flee.
Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson with his wife Rita when they were on holiday at a different Tunisian resort in 2013. Mr Wilkinson has been comfirmed as one of the Britons that died in the terrorist attack on hotels in Sousse, Tunisia.Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson with his wife Rita when they were on holiday at a different Tunisian resort in 2013. Mr Wilkinson has been comfirmed as one of the Britons that died in the terrorist attack on hotels in Sousse, Tunisia.
Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson with his wife Rita when they were on holiday at a different Tunisian resort in 2013. Mr Wilkinson has been comfirmed as one of the Britons that died in the terrorist attack on hotels in Sousse, Tunisia.

Bruce Wilkinson, 72, from Goole, was among 38 people killed by extremist Seifeddine Rezgui, who opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse in 2015.

An inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice in London heard he was staying at the hotel for the second year in a row with his wife Rita at the time of the massacre.

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The former serviceman, who drove ambulances in Lincolnshire after retiring from working at the Drax power station, was described as a devoted husband, father and grandfather.

Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.
Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.

“He loved life and loved to have a laugh and joke with us and his friends,” his family said.

“I feel I’ve lost my best friend and my right arm,” his wife of 51 years said in a statement read to the inquest.

The couple were sunbathing together in the hotel grounds when the shooting started.

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“We both heard crackling sounds coming from the beach - we didn’t know what the sound was but it sounded like fireworks or firecrackers,” said Mrs Wilkinson.

Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.
Undated family handout photo of Bruce Wilkinson.

They were not worried about the noises until a member of the hotel staff shouted: “It’s serious - run.”

“Neither of us could run but we both walked as fast as we could towards the hotel,” she said.

“We were moving as fast as we could for our lives.”

They got split up and she hid inside a luggage room in reception until the attack was over, the inquest was told.

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The next time she saw her husband he was lying dead on the ground, killed by a gunshot wound to his neck, the coroner heard.

“A lady said to me ‘I wouldn’t go down there, there’s a body down there’ and I had to check if this was Bruce,” Mrs Wilkinson said.

“I saw a body covered with a sheet and it was Bruce.”

She said she recognised his shoes before removing the sheet and looking at him.

Fellow Briton John Berry was staying at the hotel with his wife Alison and their daughter.

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He and his wife were having a coffee at the beach cafe when they heard “three loud bangs”, he said in a statement.

Mr Berry said he saw a “dark-skinned male” on the beach wearing a straw, basket-weave hat and carrying a large rifle.

Mrs Berry was shot in the back as they ran hand in hand for their lives and he left her to go and search for their daughter.

He said he came across Mrs Wilkinson “clearly in shock” beside a body who kept repeating “my husband, my husband”.

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“I put my arms around the woman to try and comfort her,” he added.

Mr Berry was later joined by police who took him from body to body searching for his wife.

“(They) kept lifting towels up to attempt identification of the deceased,” he added.

“After about four bodies they changed their minds about allowing us to do this and sent us back to the hotel.”

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He said the images he saw on the news of the gunman who was shot dead by police were not of the same man he saw with a rifle on the beach.

“From the sound of gunshots and grenades I thought there was more than one gunman,” Mr Berry added.

The inquest, which is due to last between six and eight weeks, will continue on Wednesday at 10am.