Victims' families sue travel firm over Tunisia beach massacre

Lawyers said they planned civil proceedings against the tour operator after the coroner conducting the inquests of the 30 Britons murdered on the Mediterranean coast in Sousse ruled they were unlawfully killed.

However, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith ruled against a finding of “neglect” by Thomson owner TUI, or the owners of the Riu Imperial Marhaba where radicalised mass-killer Seifeddine Rezgui slaughtered a total of 38 people, including three Irish citizens.

Cowards: How Tunisia police ‘could have saved lives’ in beach massacre

The families of the dead, many of whom wept as the inquests’ conclusions were read out on Tuesday, were highly critical of security at the hotel, which only had a handful of unarmed guards on duty when Rezgui struck, armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and home-made grenades.

They also believed that TUI did not do enough to warn holidaymakers before they booked about the dangers in Tunisia, which had suffered a fatal terrorist attack in the capital Tunis just three months earlier.

This included making them aware of official Foreign Office travel advice which warned of a high threat of terrorism.

Kylie Hutchison, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, which represents 22 victims’ families, said they had heard “shocking evidence about the level of security precautions at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel at the time of the terrorist attack”.

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the inquests finished, she said: “It is now crucial that the whole travel industry learns from what happened in Sousse to reduce the risk of similar catastrophic incidents in the future.

“On behalf of our clients who lost members of their family and those who suffered injuries in this terrible incident, we will now be preparing to commence civil proceedings against TUI.”

The inquest had heard from a holidaymaker who said his wife raised the March 2015 attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis with a travel agent, and said they had been told it was a “one-off” and that Sousse was “100% safe”.

A Thomson travel agent previously told the inquest she did not give a safety guarantee to the couple, and that she would not say somewhere is completely safe.

Rezgui, who had been radicalised just 18 months before the June 26 attack, killed holidaymakers on the hotel’s private beach before walking through an unlocked gate into the grounds and the main building to continue the slaughter.

Earlier Judge Loraine-Smith said that the law limited the circumstances in which he could rule “neglect” played a part in a death, which applied only in cases were someone had a duty of care towards someone because of their “youth, age, illness or incarceration”.

He added: “That does not cover, it seems to me, tourists who have voluntarily agreed to go on holiday abroad.”

The judge said although in general the response of the hotel staff was “disorganised and chaotic” some displayed “conspicuous personal courage” in their efforts to protect the guests.

He added: “The simple but tragic truth in this case is that a gunman armed with a gun and grenades went to that hotel intending to kill as many tourists as he could.”

Summing up the evidence heard during the inquest, Judge Loraine-Smith referred to the response of police and military, who were criticised for deliberately stalling their arrival to avoid tackling Rezgui.

He said the local police “most certainly” were responsible for tourist security, and said: “Their response could and should have been effective.”

He added: “The response by the police was at best shambolic, at worst cowardly.”

Nick Longman, the managing director of TUI UK, said the attack had “shocked and devastated all of us”.

Speaking to reporters outside court he said: “We are so very sorry for the pain and loss those affected have suffered.

“On that day the world changed. As an industry we have adapted and we will need to continue to do so.

“This terrorist incident has left its mark on all of us and its impact will always be remembered.”

The victims included...

• Grandparents Christopher Bell, 59, and his 54-year-old wife Sharon, from Leeds. Mr Bell, a former bus and taxi driver who worked in the ticket office at Leeds railway station, and his wife, who was a carer for people with learning difficulties and rose to a management position, were gunned down by the hotel swimming pool. Their family said they were “never happier than when they were surrounded by their family”.

• Bruce Wilkinson, 72, a former serviceman who drove ambulances in Lincolnshire after retiring from working at Drax power station, near Selby. He was sunbathing with Rita, his wife of 51 years, when the attack started. In a statement, Mrs Wilkinson told the inquest: “I feel I’ve lost my best friend and my right arm.”

• Claire Windass, 54, a mother-of-two from Hull. Her husband Jim told how he desperately tried to pull the Lincolnshire-born care worker to safety as they were attacked on his 65th birthday. Mr Windass, 66, who later dived into the sea to escape Rezgui, told the inquest: “I’m not medical but it was clear that something had happened (to Claire). There was no pulse. I closed her eyes.”