Tunisia/ London - The body of the Tunisian beach killer is being stored in the same mortuary as his victims, it emerged on Thursday.
Murderer Seifeddine Rezgui and the 38 people he killed had all been taken to the mortuary in Tunis in the aftermath of the deadly rampage.
Yet a week later, his body is still there, lying among his victims.
The situation was described as “disgusting” and a “disgrace” by those caught up in last Friday’s attack, in which 30 Britons were murdered.
A national minute of silence will be held at midday on Friday, exactly a week later.
David Cameron said the country would want to “share in a moment of remembrance”.
On Thursday night, the first picture of one of the final victims to be named was released.
Retired nuclear scientist David Thompson, from Hampshire, was on holiday in Sousse with his partner Anne at the time of last Friday’s attack.
The 80-year-old former Atomic Weapons Establishment scientist was described by neighbours as a “wonderful” fit and active man who had fought his way back to health after heart surgery.
He was among nine victims who were flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Thursday.
They join eight who were repatriated on Wednesday. The remaining 13 will follow in the coming days.
A diplomatic source in Tunis said there was “disquiet” about the killer being in the Charles Nicolle hospital morgue with the victims, adding: “It’s felt it’s not something the families would have wanted but we are in the hands of the Tunisian authorities.”
Meanwhile the killer’s family complained his body has not been released for burial.
Nazir Rezgui, the cousin of the 23-year-old student, said: “He made us feel ashamed but he deserves a funeral. We want to honour the Seif we knew - not the Seif who carried out the attack.”
Matt Preece, 23, who fled the carnage with his fiancee Daisy Earl, also 23, said: “I don’t think he should be kept in the same morgue as them. It is a disgrace.”
Painter and decorator Mr Preece, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, added: “It is terrible and disgusting. It is completely disrespectful.”
Marilyn Wood, 49, who was holidaying with a friend when she was caught up in the disaster, said: “It’s disgusting. Imagine losing one of your loved ones in such horrific circumstances and then finding out he was lying metres from the monster that killed them. It would give me nightmares thinking about that.”
Mr Thompson was a keen walker who was known to do up to 60 press-ups a day.
Claire Chambers, a family friend, said: “It is just terrible news. He was a very vibrant man vibrant man and very fit and active. You’d never have known he was 80.”
The other Britons repatriated on Thursday were Lisa and William Graham, Philip Heathcote, Trudy Jones, Ann and James McQuire, Janet and John Stocker.
Rezgui is believed to have had several accomplices. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon vowed they would be “tracked down”.
A woman is among eight people arrested by Tunisian police over “direct links” to the atrocity, while four more were detained for indirect links.
Two other suspects, believed to be in Libya, are being hunted.
Meanwhile, hospital surgeon Abdelmajid Mselmi, who operated on the wounded in Sousse, said he found the types of injuries inflicted on the victims were different, which could prove either that the gunman carried another weapon apart from his AK-47, or that there was more than one shooter involved.
* Comedian Russell Brand has been condemned for labelling Friday’s planned minute of silence for victims of the massacre “total bull****” and an “empty, futile gesture”.
His comments came in an online video described by Twitter users as “distasteful and disrespectful”.
Daily Mail