Tunisia terror attack inquest: Black Country teenager 'hugged grandfather when he was shot dead'

Owen Richards, then aged 16, was on holiday with his brother Joel, uncle Adrian Evans and grandfather Patrick Evans in Tunisia in June 2015 when killer Seifeddine Rezgui struck.

The court heard harrowing evidence about Rezgui's cold-blooded massacre - which saw Owen's other three family members slaughtered within yards of where he lay inside the Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel.

He closed his eyes as the killer approached, then when he opened them his brother, uncle and grandad were dead.

Evidence from Owen, which was read out in court, revealed how after hearing sounds like 'firecrackers', they ran away from the outdoor pool area and ended up inside the hotel.

Samantha Leek QC said: "Joel and Owen had to help their grandfather to run, they could still hear the noise - it was getting closer to them.

"Owen heard...bullets hitting the back wall of the hotel - he could hear them hitting, ricocheting, then bouncing back.

"They got inside the hotel but didn't know where to go. They pressed a button for the lift but it was on the ground floor and they weren't prepared to wait."

Making their way towards the indoor pool area, Owen's statement said: "Grandad kept falling over so he wasn't very fast...

"I looked behind and saw the person running after us. He came around a corner then basically we knew he had caught up.

"I saw Ade dive down then lie down. I was still holding grandad - trying to help him run...

"I was hugging grandad on the floor and then I could see Ade out of my right hand corner and remember seeing him dive on the floor and Joel was standing.

"Then Joel screamed - I think he shouted 'no' three times, like pleading with him to stop.

• Follow updates from reporter David Cosgrove at the hearing today here

"Then grandad said 'he's got me'.

"I was hugging grandad when I saw he had shot grandad again.

"I saw what happened to grandad then I could see Joel lying on the floor.

"I hit his foot and told him to get up, but he didn't get up. I crawled over to him but you could see in his eyes he wasn't alive.

"There was no life in his eyes.

"I could see Ade lying face down but there was just a pool of blood around him."

Owen then ran from the scene of the slaughter and got to a neighbouring hotel, before he was put on an ambulance.

It was only at that stage that he realised he had also been wounded - suffering a wound to the shoulder as he was grazed by a bullet.

The court heard the cause of death for Patrick was gunshot wounds to the head, Adrian gunshot wounds to the neck and trunk and Joel gunshot wounds to the head.

Coroner Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said: "Owen behaved with extraordinary courage when trying to protect his grandfather."

Suzanne Richards, reading pen portraits of her eldest son, brother and father to the court, said the attack had "destroyed" her family.

The men had gone on a "jolly boys' outing" to Tunisia to celebrate her youngest son completing his GCSE exams.

They had visited the Imperial Marhaba hotel several times before, including when Joel finished his GCSEs and A-levels.

Mrs Richards said the last message she received from the trio was from her brother, who texted her on the morning of the attack to say they were "relaxing by the pool".

She fought back tears as she said: "They arrived in Tunisia late on Thursday evening - within 12 hours my dad, my eldest son and my brother were killed.

"Thankfully Owen survived.

"We feel like we have been cut in half and will never get over what we have lost."

Of her son, she said: "The world has lost a truly shining star."

Joel, who was studying sports science at the University of Worcester, was a "popular" teenager who had become a level four football referee at the age of 18.

Mrs Richards said: "I was so proud of my boys - we were like the Three Musketeers.

"Joel was robbed of his future and we were robbed of Joel.

"Part of me also died that day when my beautiful child was taken from me so cruelly and so unfairly."

Of her brother and the boys' godparent, Mr Evans, Mrs Richards said he had worked for Sandwell Council for more than 30 years, rising to the position of gas service manager.

He had recently found "new love" and had been planning to go to see the Tour de France with his eldest nephew the month after they returned from Tunisia.

And speaking about her father, Mrs Richards said he was also like a "father figure" to her sons and would help them with their homework, take them to football and support the entire family.

"I will miss him being there for me to solve all my problems - he was my rock, my support and he helped me in so many ways."

She added: "How can four people go on holiday and only one come back?

"That fatal horrific morning destroyed my family - we are broken."

The inquest continues.