The full scale of the "cowardice" of Tunisian police officers who failed to deal with a terrorist attack on the tourist resort of Sousse has been detailed at the inquests into the 30 Britons who died.

A summary of an investigation by a Tunisian judge was read out to the court in London, while families of the victims listened.

They had already been given an advance copy of the damning report.

Dozens of police officers were interviewed, and some had conflicting stories about how they dealt with the gun rampage by Seifeddine Rezgui in June 2015.

But the conclusion of Tunisian Judge Akremi was that armed police should have been able to neutralise the terrorist within a few minutes.


Travel firm did not carry out risk assessment

Instead it took three quarters of an hour.

The delay was described as "deliberate and unjustifiable".

Even though a nearby patrol vehicle was equipped with assault rifles, bulletproof vests and ballistic helmets, the officers disobeyed orders and instead of rushing to the hotel which was under attack, they drove to a police station hoping to get more weapons.

This was down to "simple cowardice that could have prevented loss of life", according to an official who was interviewed later.

They had the necessary training and equipment, but failed to get to the scene until the massacre was over.

Tunisia beach attack footage played at inquest

Other security teams also failed to stop the attack.

A coastal patrol speedboat with two officers pulled up on the beach and opened fire on Rezgui but missed.

He responded by throwing a grenade and although it didn't injure the officer, he fainted.

His weapon was picked up by a passer-by who tried to fire the gun but it jammed.

The other marine officer took off his uniform and tried to blend in with the crowd to avoid being shot at.

Video tracks the route taken by Tunisian attacker

Rezgui was finally shot twenty times, but one of the officers who killed him did so even though the area wasn't his jurisdiction.

He did so because those who should have been dealing with the incident had not responded.

He called it "negligence" by the first responders.

A government official said it was an "offence for which the team must take responsibility", but the inquest has been given no information about whether any disciplinary action was taken.

The report also indicated that in 2014 British counter-terrorism officials had helped the Tunisian government formulate a plan to deal with a terrorist attack on a tourist area, but the plan was never implemented.