A man whose parents were killed in the Tunisia beach massacre today told how training for the London Marathon was helping him to overcome his grief.
Lee Stocker, 38, said he dreaded the day he had to explain to his two young children how their grandparents, Janet and John Stocker, were among 30 Britons killed by a gunman.
He is running his first marathon on April 23 in memory of the victims and to raise funds for the British Red Cross.
The charity helped him and his four siblings in Tunisia in the aftermath of the atrocity in June 2015.
Mr Stocker, a Post Office worker from Morden, told the Standard: “When I decided to do the marathon it gave me another focus. In a way it has [helped]. It’s a bit of ‘me time’.
"It deflects your mind from events. Especially in the latter miles, the difficult miles, it helps to think why you are doing it and who you are doing it for.”
His mother and father, aged 63 and 74, were sunbathing at the resort of Port El Kantaoui, near Sousse, when they were shot by terrorist Seifeddine Rezgui in an attack that left 38 tourists dead. An inquest in February found they were unlawfully killed.
Mr Stocker is married to Nicole, 38, and has a son, Zach, eight, and daughter, Scarlett, five. He described his parents, who lived two roads away, as a “fun-loving couple”.
Mr Stocker said: “Even in their sixties and seventies, they loved each other and loved going out. They loved the fun things in life. They were always holding hands and doing the shopping together or the gardening.
“The kids often talk about them. We know there are going to be tough days ahead — anniversaries and birthdays — but also there is going to be the battle when we have to explain to the kids what really happened, and that an extremist decided to take their nan and grandad away from them. A lot of their spirit and love and kindness lives on through the kids.”
He will run the marathon wearing a bracelet that belonged to his father, with a charm for each of the 30 UK victims.
The British Red Cross had four volunteers in Sousse, including London psychologist Dr Howie Fine. “He was always reassuring us and making sure we were okay,” Mr Stocker said. “He helped to make sense of what was happening.
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“Without him, I don’t know how we would have coped. I was always wondering what was the best way to give something back to them and always wanted to do the marathon.”
