The family of award-winning British photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed covering the Libyan civil war, today described him as a "wonderful humanitarian".
The Oscar-nominated film-maker and war photographer was capturing images of fighting between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and Libyan rebels in Misrata when he was caught in a mortar attack on April 20 2011.
His American colleague Chris Hondros, 41, was also killed in the attack, while a number of other journalists including British photographer Guy Martin were injured by flying shrapnel.
Speaking after an inquest into his death at Westminster Coroner's Court today, his mother Judith cried as she said: "He was an image maker and storyteller, that is how he liked to be described.
"He was a wonderful humanitarian."
The court heard that Hetherington had arrived in Misrata on April 17 with a small group of photographers.
On 20 April, the photojournalists came under heavy fire while seeking images along Tripoli Street in the company of rebel fighters.
In a written statement, Martin said: "The fighting and level of violence we witnessed that morning was catastrophic, with hand-to-hand fighting, grenades being thrown, buildings being set on fire with loyalist troops still inside and incoming mortar fire coming from miles away."
Martin, who is based in Istanbul, Turkey, said that after the battle seemed to have finished Mr Hetherington and the rest of the group "considered we had pushed our luck that day".
They went back to their base and had different views on what they should do with the rest of their day.
But Hetherington argued that they should stay with the rebel fighters and it was his view which prevailed, the court heard.
Returning to Tripoli Street to take pictures of the damage that had been done, the group found themselves caught up in a second battle.
Describing the fatal attack, Martin said: "For a brief mili-second I saw Chris (Hondros) stumble in front me – I looked up and was surrounded by thick grey dust.
"The ground seemed to be on fire as smoke rose up from the pavement.
"I could see my legs were still attached to my body but I could hear little and began to lose consciousness."
Martin said he only found out about the deaths of Mr Hetherington and Mr Hondros from another journalist as he was trying to flee the country a week later.
The court heard that New York Times reporter and former US marine Chris Chivers had inspected the scene afterwards.
Chivers concluded that the mortar attack which killed Mr Hetherington had come from loyalist forces.
Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, deputy Westminster coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: "He was not a soldier, he was an innocent photographer."
She determined the cause of death had been a "massive haemorrhage" caused by shrapnel from mortar fire which injured his legs.
Hetherington, who was 40 when he died and based in Kensington, London, was born in Liverpool and studied literature at Oxford University.
Having lived in New York, he had dual British and American nationality and had been covering conflict zones in countries such as Liberia and Sierra Leone since the late 1990s.
Best known for his work in Afghanistan, in 2007 he won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year Award.
His time there also led to his creation of the 2010 Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo.
Showing the lives of the men of a battle company of the 173rd Airborne in the Korengal Valley, the film won the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
The photographer, whose first job was as a trainee at the Big Issue in London, also made short films about the soldiers he met in Korengal and released a book of pictures called Infidel.
Related
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
