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The final photo

Katie Fitzpatrick
11/ 7/2008

THIS is the last photograph of Chris Stokes, taken just hours before he was gunned down.

The photograph of the 30-year-old chartered accountant from Smithy Bridge (on the left of the picture) was taken by a fellow tourist on his way to an amphitheatre in Jordan.

It was at the tourist attraction in downtown Amman that Mr Stokes was killed by a single gun shot fired by 38-year-old Nabil Ahmed Aisa Al-Ja’oura.

The day before he died, Mr Stokes emailed his family from the Middle East to say: "I am safe and sound and in Jordan."

An inquest into Mr Stokes’ death was held in Rochdale this week, almost two years after he died.

Coroner Barrie Williams recorded a verdict that Mr Stokes had been unlawfully killed ‘by a fanatic who wanted to be a martyr’.

Following the verdict, Mr Stokes’ father Rod said he wanted to focus on the positives of his son’s life.

'We refuse to be angry'

THE parents of murdered tourist Chris Stokes made a poignant visit to the spot where their son was gunned down by a fanatic in Jordan.

At the invitation of the Royal Court of Jordan, Norma and Rod Stokes and their eldest son Phil, 33, travelled to the capital city of Amman two months after Chris was killed with a single gun shot.

They met the tourist policeman who had overpowered Nabil Ahmed Aisa Al-Ja’oura, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who opened fire on Chris and a group of fellow holidaymakers on 4 September 2006.

And in tribute to Chris, the family visited the city of Petra, which Chris had planned as the last destination in his five-week organised tour of the Middle East.

Mr Stokes said: "That was a very emotional trip because Chris had always wanted to see it and the only reason we were there is because he wasn’t."

This week an inquest recorded a verdict that Chris had been unlawfully killed.

Five fellow holidaymakers and a tourist policeman were also wounded in the attack.

The inquest in Rochdale heard that Al-Ja’oura loaded his gun and sat in wait for tourists in downtown Amman.

The fanatic was motivated by revenge against Israel’s conflict with Lebanon and following the death of his two brothers, killed by the Israeli Defence Force in Lebanon more than 20 years ago.

He had made a previous attempt to kill tourists in the city but his plan was thwarted because there were a large number of Jordanian people in the crowd.

When he noticed Chris and his party start to climb the steps of the amphitheatre, he opened fire.

Witnesses said he cried: "Allahu akbar!" – "God is Great" – before firing a pistol at the group.

Al-Ja’oura was sentenced to death by hanging by a Jordanian court in December 2006 and he was executed in May 2007 after his appeals were denied.

Coroner Barrie Williams said: "This was a calculated and callous attack on an entirely innocent and unsuspecting British tourist."

Following the verdict of unlawful killing, Mr Stokes said: "People ask if we are angry about what this man did but we have never thought about him.

"What’s the point of anger? It destroys lives. Instead we will look at the positives of Chris’s life."

Chris, who had previously spent a year travelling through Peru, Buenos Aires, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and America, started his Middle East tour, which also included Syria and Cairo, with The Imaginative Traveller holiday company in Istanbul on 8 August, 2006.

Mr Stokes said: "He was aware of the risks and that is why he went on an organised tour. He had been discussing the danger of travel and ironically he considered Jordan to be the safest place."

His parents have found comfort following the tragedy by keeping in touch with members of Chris’s party, who have all made good progress following the attack.

They include Kathryn Mills, from London, who suffered a collapsed lung but was back in Jordan within 12 months, and Australian doctor Verena Doolbah, who feared she would never walk again after a bullet lodged in her spine but has since climbed to Everest base camp.