Wife on 30th anniversary holiday ‘played dead’ to survive when husband was gunned down on sunlounger during Tunisia beach massacre
Allison and Philip Heathcote were just 24 hours into their holiday when Islamic State gunman Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 tourists
THE HEARTBROKEN widow of a man killed in the Tunisia terror attack has told how she "played dead" after they were both gunned down on a 30th wedding anniversary holiday in a desperate bid to survive.
Allison and Philip Heathcote were just 24 hours into their holiday on the Mediterranean resort of Sousse when Islamic State gunman Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 tourists.
The terror attack, at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel on June 26, 2015, saw Mrs Heathcote lay still on the sand after being shot five times by Rezgui.
She had been relaxing on sunbeds with Philip, 53, when the attack took place.
The inquest being held into the deaths of Brits during the attack at The Royal Courts of Justice in London was told in a statement from Mrs Heathcote that she experienced "pure fear" during the attack.
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As she lay wounded, the killer walked away, before she then heard the gunshots getting closer again.
She said: "I was fearing for my life. I stayed laying on the sand, trying not to move and draw attention to the fact that I was still alive.
"I decided my best chance of survival was to play dead."
She added: "At the first opportunity I was asking Philip if he was all right. There was no response from Philip and I realised he had not made it."
Mrs Heathcote, then 48, who lived with her husband in Felixstowe, Suffolk, was shot in the arm and abdomen and spent a month in an induced coma, the inquest heard.
In her statement she said she experienced a "stinging pain" after being shot in the arm. But she had not initially realised how badly she had been hurt, putting it down to the fear and adrenaline.
The hearing was told that the couple, who have a 27-year-old son James, had become engaged six weeks after meeting in 1985.
Mr Heathcote, who worked as a traffic operator for Goldstar Transport, was a keen rugby and cricket player in his youth and had continued as a cricket coach for local children in Suffolk, as well as a league umpire.
He also loved to watch his son play sports and talk about the games he had played in.
Originally from Manchester, Mr Heathcote was also a lifelong Manchester United fan, the inquest heard.
Mr Heathcote died from gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, the inquest heard.
Fellow holidaymaker, retired Leicestershire Police chief superintendent Michael Perry, who was on a nearby sunbed, said he saw Rezgui on the beach brandishing a "military type of assault rifle".
Mr Perry, whose 30-year career included firearms training, said Rezgui seemed to be firing in "a rather uncontrolled manner", suggesting he had the gun in automatic mode, where one squeeze of the trigger would result in a hail of bullets but made aiming harder.
He described "a lot of hysteria, panic, running around" as the attack unfolded, adding that the hotel's handful of unarmed security guards would not have been able to stop what happened.
Mr Perry, who was on holiday with his wife Angela, said the men seemed mostly there to stop people getting into the all-inclusive hotel without the correct wristbands.
He added: "I wouldn't have called them guards."
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