British IT director Lorraine Campbell, who was last night confirmed as the final British victim of the Sri Lanka terror attacks, had been texting her husband when she was killed by a suicide bomber.
Husband Neil Evans was exchanging messages with the 55-year-old as she sat down to have breakfast on the first day of a business trip in Colombo, when she abruptly stopped replying.
The mother-of-one from Manchester, was killed when a terrorist – who had just served himself at the buffet – detonated a bomb within feet of her at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.
She is one of eight British victims to die in the atrocities which killed more than 350 people.
IT director Lorraine Campbell, 55, from Manchester, has been confirmed as the final British victim caught up in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday
‘[Neil] was texting her when she was in the restaurant in the morning and then the texts stopped. Then the report came out and he put two and two together, same hotel,’ her son Mark said.
The successful businesswoman, known as ‘Loz’, had relocated to Dubai to work for a large firm last year with her husband who flew out to Sri Lanka after hearing that she could not be found.
Her devastated husband confirmed she was among the 359 dead in the co-ordinated attacks, calling her his 'best friend in the world'.
Mr Evans said: 'Lorraine was a real tour de force, she epitomised the qualities she lived by, and was a conduit for bringing people together to both make things happen, and make them better.
'I've lost my best friend in the world for all the adventures we shared and planned for the future.
Her devastated husband Neil Evans, who married the mother-of-one in February, said she was his 'best friend in the world'
'I, Lorraine's family and friends are in a state of disbelief and grief for what has happened and as such, would respectfully ask that our privacy at this difficult time is respected.'
Lorainne was last seen alive on CCTV footage having breakfast with colleague Juno Srivastava at the hotel’s Taprobane restaurant. The pair been on a business trip while working for Al Futtaim – a firm which runs shopping centres across the Middle East.
Indian national Mr Srivastava, who is married with three children and also works as a lecturer for Middlesex University’s Dubai campus, was still missing last night and is feared dead.
Lorainne's son Mark Campbell, from Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, said his mother remarried in February last year after finding ‘everything she ever wanted’ in businessman Neil.
The 32-year-old said: ‘Mum never thought she would get married again but she met Neil who was everything she wanted in a man - smart, intellectual and successful in his own right.
‘He gave up his business career here to start a new life in Dubai with Mum. They had a three year plan to make some money tax free and then come home to enjoy life,’ he said.
'To my mum I was her world so to have to tell me that she didn’t make it would have been really hard and I knew he [Neil] was also alone.
'I just want to bring my mum home and I want to give everyone who knew her... the opportunity to come together and celebrate this beautiful woman.’
He had previously told the Mail: ‘I have been told it is her although she has got to be formally identified. I know it is my mum. She has been taken from us in a terrible way.’
A suicide bomber - who had checked into the hotel the night before the attack as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed - had waited patiently in line at the breakfast buffet with a plate in hand.
An employee at the hotel, who had reviewed CCTV footage, said: ‘He had a couple of servings before he came right to the centre of the restaurant and blew himself up.’
Dhivya Marunthiah, who is a volunteer helping in the search for missing people, said: ‘Both Juno and Lorraine were sat very close to the blast area.
‘Footage inside the hotel shows them having breakfast together near to where the bomb was detonated in the moments before.’
Mr Campbell, who works in music management, said his mother had been anxious about travelling to the island ahead of her fateful visit.
He said: ‘She had messaged me before the trip to say she was nervous about flying there because of Dengue fever.
‘She was quite worked up about it but I told her she would be all right. I never thought something like this could happen.
‘Mum was amazing. She touched everyone she met and all those people now have a huge hole in their lives.’ He added: ‘I saw her only a couple of weeks ago when she came back for Mother’s Day which was really nice.
‘She had only been in Sri Lanka for a day for work. I
