Tunisia beach shooter hid his firearm in a parasol

A survivor of the Tunisian beach massacre today re-lived the horror of identifying her dead friend – whose body was only recognisable by her glittery toenail varnish.

Divorced mother-of-four Trudy Jones, 51, was holidaying with friends when she was shot in the neck and chest by a terrorist gunman who hid his firearm in a parasol as he carried it along a beach, an inquest heard.

Seifeddine Rezgui killed 30 British tourists after entering the Riu Imperial Marhaba in Sousse from the beach on June 26 2015. 

One witness described how he grabbed his wife and ran for his life after seeing the gunman shooting victims ‘like he was doing a normal job.’

Another told how he ran down the beach after realising his wife was on the beach with the terrorist.

‘My only thought was for my wife, to get to my wife,’ Simon Greaves told the inquest.

An inquest at the Royal Courts of Justice in London is set to hear evidence in relation to each of the 30 British victims murdered in the atrocity.

The first victim the inquest heard details about was Ms Jones, from Gwent, South Wales.

She had been on holiday with a number of friends including Carol Anne Powell when Rezgui killed 38 tourists at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel.

On the morning of her death she had gone for breakfast with Ms Powell, before both women got ready to sunbathe.

Trudy Jones, from Gwent, South Wales, was a divorced single mother-of-four, who was holidaying with friends when she was killed

Ms Jones made her way to beach while Ms Powell sat by the pool.

In a statement she said: ‘At around 12 or 12.30pm I heard the most terrible explosion. The explosion came from behind me, towards the beach area. It was the loudest noise you could ever hear.’

She added that she initially thought it was an explosion in a beach kitchen, and then crowds of people appeared, running away from the area.

‘I wanted to run towards the beach to check on Trudy, but people were running towards me shouting ‘Go, go’.

‘I started to run towards the hotel with the crowds of people.’

Ms Powell described getting caught up in the ‘chaos’ and eventually deciding to play dead in a hotel car park.

She said a man picked her up and put her on his shoulders – while she continued to play dead – before carrying her to the safety of a neighbouring hotel.

‘I am desperate to find out who he is because he saved me,’ she added.

In the following days Ms Powell attended the mortuary where the victims’ bodies were being held.

Family members of victims of the Tunisia terror attack arrive for the first day of the inquest

Samantha Leek QC, counsel to the inquest, said: ‘She (Ms Powell) looked at photographs. She initially did not see anyone who looked like Trudy.

‘A couple of hours later she saw a photograph that looked like her.’

The inquest heard that Ms Powell was then shown a body which corresponded with that picture.

Ms Leek continued: ‘She recognised the glittery nail varnish on her toes.’

The court was told that a post-mortem examination was carried out in Tunisia and another in the UK – where Ms Jones was also identified through dental records.

Both gave Ms Jones’s cause of death as a single gunshot wound to the neck and chest.

Ms Powell had also been on holiday with Mark Hornby.

Mark Stocker (pictured today), whose parents were killed, heard they ‘didn’t stand a chance

Describing how aware he had been of the terror threat in Tunisia, he said: ‘I did not check the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website as I was not aware of it.

‘The terror risk was not brought to our attention by Thomson (holiday company).’

He added: ‘I assumed we would be safe on our holiday, especially as the hotel was five stars.’ 

Ms Jones was just 48 hours away from returning home to Blackwood in South Wales when she was killed. 

The inquest also heard evidence into the deaths of Janet and John Stocker, aged 63 and 74.

The husband and wife had been sunbathing on the beach when they were gunned down.

A witness said he believed Mr and Mrs Stocker were the first to be killed in the massacre

Eyewitness Anthony Miller said they ‘did not stand a chance’ when Rezgui opened fire at holidaymakers.

He and his wife Julie had met the couple a year earlier and become good friends.

They spent much of the 2015 holiday in each other’s company and had even planned to go for dinner on June 27, so the Stockers could end their trip ‘on a high’.

But two days before they were due to return home in Morden, Surrey, they were shot dead.

In a statement read to the inquest, Mr Miller said: ‘I heard what I thought were firecrackers going off. I looked up and saw the man standing over Janet and John had something in his hands.’

He added: ‘I thought “I don’t believe this is happening”. It seemed to me he was not very good with the gun. He seemed to have a job controlling it.

‘He was swinging it side to side. I think that may have saved us.’

The scene of the atrocity. The High Court is hearing evidence about the events of June 2015

Mr Miller went on to explain that he knew his wife would not be able to run, so he pushed her down into the sand, lay on top of her, and told her to play dead.

Describing what he saw of the Stockers, he said: ‘I thought he (John) was alive. Janet had slumped forward, half on and half off the sunbed. I am not sure how many times they had been shot.

‘They must have been the first to be shot. They didn’t stand a chance.’

Mr Miller continued: ‘I realised there was nothing I could do for John and I needed to look after my wife.’

Post mortem examinations gave the Stockers’ causes of death as gunshot wounds to the pelvis.

The court has heard the harrowing evidence of those whose holiday turned into a nightmare

The inquest also heard tributes from the Stockers’ families who said the couple were ‘still very much in love with each other’.

‘They were a happy couple, both young at heart, and enjoyed all life could afford.

‘They were frequent flyers and enjoyed travelling to new places and exploring.

‘John and Janet’s home life revolved around the most simplest of pleasures – family and friends.’

The family statement read: ‘They died together doing what they enjoyed most – being side by side.’

The inquest resumes at 10am on Tuesday.