Tunisia terror attacks memorial 'must stay to honour victims'

The beach memorial outside the Imperial Marhaba Hotel was to remember the 38 people – including 30 Brits and three members of Suzy Evans’s family – who died there.

But the new owners of the hotel are alleged to have pulled down the memorial – amid fears it is bad for business, according to reports.

The manager of the hotel, which is now called Kantaoui Bay, said it had been “hidden away”.

Suzy Evans, from Wednesbury, lost her eldest son 19-year-old Joel, father Patrick and brother Adrian in the beach shooting in June 2015.

Only her youngest son, Owen, who was 16 at the time, survived.

She said the removal of the memorial was “disrespectful” and said it would not stop “the world remembering what happened”.

Suzy said: “We appreciate time moves on for some and they have a business to run.

"However, Owen and I believe its very disrespectful removing the plaque in memory of those killed.

“There should be a permanent one for all those that never came home.

“It’s like they are trying their best to hope tourists will forget what happened that dreadful day.

“Removing the plaque and renaming the hotel will never stop the world remembering what happened.”

Suzy added: “My only hope is that the hotel have spent time improving their hotel security by putting up CCTV cameras that work as well as training the on staff what to do in an emergency.

“I am currently working with the travel industry to ensure changes are made to improve customer safety.”

The unnamed manager of the hotel is reported to have said: “It has not been removed completely. It does exist in the hotel but it’s not in a place where everyone can see it. If someone asks about it, we can show them.”

While a senior worker at the hotel added: “We don’t want to remind new guests something bad happened. If they know, maybe they will leave.”

Suzy and Owen have since set up a charity in memory of her son, Smile For Joel, to support other families who are victims or murder or terrorism.

Since the charity’s inception, Smile for Joel has raised more than £200,000 and last year alone support more than 500 families affected by homicide.

Smile for Joel’s first ever fun run in September 2016 raised £27,000 and their Colour Blast Run last year raised just short of £15,000.

The next Run for Joel Colour Blast Run takes place on September 8.

A permanent memorial to those who died in the two Tunisia terrorist attacks in 2015 was unveiled at Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park earlier this year, by the Duke of Sussex.

Suzy and her son Owen were both present at the service when Prince Harry unveiled the £750,000 memorial called ‘Infinite Wave’ – made up of 31 individual streams, each one representing each of the British victims.

Suzy and Owen jointly read poem “We Remember Them” during the memorial service.

While there, Prince Harry told 19-year-old Owen how important it was to ‘keep on talking’ about the event after it had happened.

During the ceremony, Prince Harry said: “In memory of all those who lost their lives. And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events.

“I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicate this memorial to your loved ones.”