NICK Alexander's former girlfriend has described how she tried to save the "love of her life" before he died in her arms during the Paris terror attacks.

Caroline Beasley-Murray, senior coroner for Essex, concluded that Nick, 35, from Weeley, had been unlawfully killed on November 13 last year.

He was in the Bataclan theatre when gunmen stormed the building midway through a rock concert, killing 89 people.

He had been selling merchandise for the US rock band Eagles Of Death Metal, who were on stage at the time and survived the massacre.

Helen Wilson, an ex-girlfriend who was with Mr Alexander that evening, said she tried to shield him from the bullets as Islamic State gunmen opened fire shortly after 10pm.

In evidence read to Essex Coroner's Court in Chelmsford, Ms Wilson said the pair tried to "play dead" before one of the gunmen approached them and opened fire.

Ms Wilson said she tried to protect him by covering him with her body, before she felt a burning sensation in her legs.

She said: "Nick said he had been shot. He couldn't move and was in pain."

Ms Wilson told the court the pair held hands but she could hear his breaths becoming shallower.

She said: "I twisted my body around and gave him mouth-to-mouth. I was telling him not to leave me and I love him."

Ms Wilson, an American who lives in France and runs a catering company in the music business, said she had gone to meet Mr Alexander the night before after he told her he was in Paris.

After staying at his hotel she met him later on November 13 at the Bataclan during the concert.

Ms Wilson, who did not attend the inquest, said in evidence read to the court that they heard gunshots as they stood together at his stall, inside the theatre, near the entrance.

She said: "I noticed a small guy with a pistol and another taller one, who I would describe as the leader, who had a machine gun, who opened fire with the machine gun.

"The first small guy with the pistol had already shot at the crowd."

The pair dropped to the floor and curled up and tried to "play dead" as screaming and gunshots echoed around them, before one of the gunmen approached them and opened fire.

Ms Wilson said: "I tried to protect Nick by covering his body with my legs and wrapping my arms ... I asked Nick if he had been shot, I could feel a burning sensation around my legs and could see blood.

"I thought I was going to die. Nick said that he had been shot, he told me that he had been shot in the stomach."

Mr Alexander was struggling to breathe, could not move and was in pain, so she told him to breathe gently and that she would give him mouth-to-mouth.

She said: "We were holding hands the whole time. He told me it was hard to breathe so I told him to squeeze my hand and was telling him to stay with me ... I was telling him not to leave me, and that I love him."

Ms Wilson repeatedly tried to revive him before a bomb went off inside the theatre.

She said: "I protected myself and asked Nick if he was okay. He said, 'I'm going to die'. I told him that he wasn't, he said he couldn't breathe. I slid round closer to him and gave him mouth-to-mouth, but could tell that he had already died."

She eventually got up and tried to leave the theatre, before being carried to safety by police.

Ms Wilson told the inquest they had first started seeing each other in Liverpool around 2006, when she was married to someone else.

They were in a relationship for two years before breaking it off, but remained friends.

She told the inquest: "I consider (him) as the love of my life."

The inquest, attended by his mother Sheelagh and older sister Zoe, heard Mr Alexander, who was living in London at the time of his death, was hit by two or three bullets from a high-velocity rifle.

Speaking after an inquest at Essex Coroner's Court in Chelmsford found he was unlawfully killed, his sister Zoe Alexander said he "lived his life to the full".

With her mother Sheelagh at her side, she said: "On November 13 last year our precious Nick, along with 88 others, lost his life in an indiscriminate act of terror at the Bataclan theatre.

"Nick was a much-loved son, brother, uncle and friend, a strong, gentle, generous and funny man who lived his life to the full.

"We were blessed to have him in our lives and we miss him beyond measure."