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Inquest into Tunisia terror attack deaths put back to 2017

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Inquests into the deaths of 30 British holidaymakers killed by a gunman on a Tunisian beach have been put back to next year.

The inquests were due in November this year but judge and coroner Nicholas Loraine-Smith said there was “an enormous amount of work to be done”.

He told a pre-inquest hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice he was “sorry” the date had been moved, the BBC reported.

Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 people in the attack last June, with so-called Islamic State claiming responsibility.

The Britons were all holidaymakers staying in the resort of Port El Kantaoui, just north of Sousse.

The court heard the Metropolitan Police had received 750,000 files from 40 computers and mobile phones seized by Tunisian investigators, while officers were preparing reports on each victim.

The coroner indicated the data could be reviewed for only relevant photo or documentary evidence.

He ruled the scope of the inquiry should assess security at the beach and nearby Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel before and after the attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis in March last year, in which 22 people died, including one Briton.

A previous hearing heard the inquest will look at what, if anything, the UK government and travel companies knew about the risk of an attack at the Mediterranean resort.

The coroner will also consider the “adequacy” of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s travel advice for the region.

The next pre-inquest hearing is expected to be held on May 25 and the full inquest from January 16, 2017.

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