TERROR ATTACK INQUEST STARTS
Details of Bankfoot couple’s death to be heard
Lisa and Billy Graham Inquests into the deaths of 30 British tourists – including a Perthshire couple – killed at a Tunisian resort in June 2015 opened in London yesterday.
Lisa and Billy Graham, of Bankfoot, died when Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on holidaymakers on the beach near Sousse, claiming the lives of 38 people.
The couple had been on holiday as a celebration of Mrs Graham’s 50th birthday.
Mr Graham (51) was a turnstile operator at St Johnstone’s home ground. He previously served for 22 years in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.
The hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice and led by coroner Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith are expected to take seven weeks.
Live feeds of the proceedings are being shown in Stirling Sheriff Court.
Another Scots couple, Jim and Anne McQuire, from North Lanarkshire, were
also killed.
The PA understands that the Scotland’s legal body, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, is not anticipating any formal involvement in the matter.
The inquests are being held just shortly after a BBC current affairs programme alleged that a number of issues with security and foreigners’ safety had been exposed by the attacks, which have been claimed in the name of the extremist group, Islamic State.
The Panorama programme said that police responding to the Sousse incident initially went to the wrong hotel, and that another officer fainted on his way to potentially intercept the gunman.
Lawyers say that the families want to know whether their loved ones were made aware of the Foreign Office advice that there was a high risk of a terrorist attack in Tunisia, and what the security arrangements were at the hotel.
Many of them have stated it is the families’ wishes to learn lessons and prevent future deaths, as well as covering the last moments of the victims on June 26, 2015.
The coroner, Judge LoraineSmith, is due to hear from a senior figure at the Foreign Office and from TUI, the parent company of Thomson, which sold the victims their holidays.
Rezgui, a lone gunman, opened fire on tourists staying in the popular resort of Port El Kantaoui, just north of Sousse.
Thirty of those killed were British tourists staying at the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba and Hotel Riu Bellevue Park.