A British father whose entire family were killed in the suspected terror attack in Sri Lanka has paid tribute to his "talented and thoughtful" children and his "brilliant, loving" wife.

Ben Nicholson said his wife Anita, 42, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11, had been killed as they sat at a table for breakfast in the Shangri-la Hotel in Colombo on Easter Sunday.

"Mercifully, all three of them died instantly and with no pain or suffering," Mr Nicholson said.

They were on the second floor of the luxury hotel when two suicide bombers walked in and blew themselves up as part of eight co-ordinated attacks which killed 310 people.

Billy Harrop, 56, a retired firefighter, and his wife Sally, originally from ­Manchester, were also killed, while a British teenage brother and sister were also killed in the attack.