Stephen and Cheryl Mellor had been relaxing on the beach when the gunman attacked
A British woman who survived the mass shootings at a Tunisian beach resort said her “hero” husband sacrificed his life to protect her.
Stephen Mellor, 59, died when Islamist gunman Seifeddine Rezgui shot him and his wife, Cheryl, on the beach.
Mrs Mellor told an inquest Rezgui “seemed to enjoy looking at us squirm” as he pulled the trigger. Rezgui killed 38 people – 30 of them Britons – at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba, near Sousse, in June 2015.
In her statement, read out at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, Mrs Mellor said: “I am only here today due to the bravery of my husband, Stephen. “We were being shot and he protected me. Stephen stayed and saved me. He sacrificed himself. Stephen is a hero to me.”
Mr Mellor, a father of three from Bodmin, Cornwall, died after being shot in the chest and abdomen.
Mrs Mellor, who was shot in the leg and wrist, suffered life-changing injuries.
“I believe the suspect was working to a plan. He was killing mainly British tourists,” she told the inquest.
The couple, who were looking forward to retirement, had been relaxing on sun loungers when they heard a “huge bang sound” at about noon.
Mrs Mellor said the initial blasts were “really close”, and her husband said: “Oh my God, this is going, really going, down.”
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