The UK defence secretary has said perpetrators of the massacre of British tourists in Tunisia would be “tracked down” wherever they were, as the bodies of nine more victims were repatriated.
“We are working with the Tunisian authorities to find out exactly how this outrage last Friday was carried out, how it was planned, who was involved in it,” Michael Fallon told the House of Commons on Thursday.
“Let the house be in absolutely no doubt, the people who perpetrated the murders of our constituents are going to be tracked down, whether they are in Libya, in Syria or anywhere else,” he said.
Earlier, Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, confirmed the final death toll of British tourists killed in the attack as 30.
“We now have all 30 British victims positively identified and we can say with a high degree of confidence that is now the final death toll of British nationals killed in this incident,” said Hammond. Thirty-eight people were killed by gunman Seifeddine Rezgui on the beach in Sousse last Friday.
Thomson and First Choice, the holiday firm, confirmed that the 30 Britons were its customers.
An RAF C17 transport plane carrying the bodies of Lisa and William Graham, Ann and James McQuire, Philip Heathcote, Trudy Jones, Janet and John Stocker, and David Thompson touched down at Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire.
The Grahams came from Perthshire in Scotland. William Graham reportedly booked the holiday as a birthday present for his wife, who turned 50 earlier this year.
Jim and Ann McQuire, 66 and 63 respectively, from Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, were described as a “kind and gentle couple” by vicar Joyce Keys. McQuire was a captain in the Boys’ Brigade, a Christian youth organisation, which said it was “shocked and deeply saddened” by his death.
Heathcote, 52, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, was celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary with wife Allison, 48, who was seriously injured in the attack and has been flown back to Britain by the RAF for treatment.
Jones, 51, of Blackwood in Gwent, south Wales, was described by her family as “our beautiful mother”. The 51-year-old divorced mother-of-four had been on holiday with her friends.
Retired printer John Stocker, 74, and his wife Janet, 63, were described by their family as “the happiest, most loving couple”.
Wounded Britons - including four with severe injuries - have already been brought back to the UK for treatment at hospitals in Birmingham, Oxford, Plymouth and London.
A minute’s silence in memory of the victims will be observed at noon on Friday – a week after the attack – and flags will be flown at half-mast over Whitehall departments and Buckingham Palace.
Eight Britons killed in the attack in Sousse, a popular Tunisian resort, were brought back on Wednesday. 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 last Friday. Joel’s brother Owen, 16, survived the attack.
The others were fashion blogger Carly Lovett, 24, from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire; Stephen Mellor, 59, from Bodmin in Cornwall; John Stollery, 58, a social worker from Nottinghamshire; former Birmingham City football player Denis Thwaites, 70, and his wife Elaine, 69.
The other British victims include: John Welch, 74, and his partner Eileen Swannack, from Wiltshire; Christopher and Sharon Bell, from Leeds; Chris Dyer, from Watford; Lisa Burbidge, from Gateshead; Sue Davey from Staffordshire; Scott Chalkley from Derby; Claire Windass from Hull; Bruce Wilkinson, 72, from Goole, East Yorkshire; and Stuart Cullen, 52, from Suffolk.
The Irish victims were Lorna Carty, from Robinstown, Co Meath, and Laurence and Martina Hayes, both in their 50s, from Athlone in Co Westmeath.
Tunisian investigators have arrested 12 people in connection with the attack but are still hunting for accomplices believed to have helped Rezgui. According to Tunisian officials, he trained at a Libyan jihadi camp at the same time as the two gunmen who attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis in March, killing 22 people.
