Relatives Await More Tunisia Bodies

Relatives Await More Tunisia Bodies
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The bodies of more Britons killed in the Tunisian beach massacre will be flown back to the UK today.

It comes as the Tunisian government said it had arrested 12 suspects in connection with the atrocity.

Eight Britons gunned down in the terror attack were brought back to British soil yesterday.

They included the youngest known victim, Joel Richards, 19, who was killed alongside his uncle Adrian Evans and his grandfather Patrick Evans at the beach resort of Sousse last Friday.

Joel's brother Owen, 16, survived the attack.

As his body was brought home in a coffin yesterday, Joel's mother told of her heartbreak. She said: "We are a very small and normal family, but nothing will ever be normal again.

"My son Joel, dad Pat and brother Adrian were our rocks and we are all heartbroken and devastated and will never get over losing them."

The other Britons brought back yesterday included Carly Lovett, 24, a fashion blogger from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, who reportedly survived the massacre on the beach only to die when a grenade was thrown into her hotel.

The bodies of engineer Stephen Mellor, 59, from Bodmin in Cornwall, killed as he shielded his wife Cheryl on the beach, and John Stollery, 58, a social worker from Nottinghamshire, were also flown back, as were former Birmingham City football player Denis Thwaites, 70, and his wife, 69-year-old Elaine.

The grieving relatives wept as the flower-covered coffins were taken out of a plane at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and loaded into hearses.

Out of the 38 people killed by fanatic Seifeddine Rezgui in the terror attack, 29 have been identified as British while another is believed to be from the UK.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said last night all of the British victims will be flown back to the UK "over the coming days".

Some of them will arrive at RAF Brize Norton later today.

The other British victims include: John Welch, 74, and his partner Eileen Swannack, from Wiltshire; Christopher and Sharon Bell, from Leeds; David Thompson, from Tadley, Hampshire; Chris Dyer, from Watford; Trudy Jones, of Gwent, South Wales; Lisa Burbidge, from Gateshead; Philip Heathcote, 52, from Suffolk; Sue Davey from Staffordshire; Scott Chalkley from Derby; Claire Windass from Hull; Bruce Wilkinson, 72, from Goole, East Yorkshire; Jim and Ann McQuire, from Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire; Stuart Cullen, 52, from Suffolk; Billy and Lisa Graham, from Perthshire in Scotland; John Stocker, 74, and his wife Janet, 63, from Crawley.

The Irish victims were Lorna Carty, from Robinstown, Co Meath, and Laurence and Martina Hayes, both in their 50s, from Athlone in Co Westmeath.