Retired company director and his former teacher wife are found dead in suicide pact at home with ‘do not revive’ written on their FOREHEADS, inquest hears
- Retired couple carried out a suicide pact at their home in Modbury, Devon
- Peter Norris, 75, and his wife Marguerite, 74, wrote Do Not Revive on themselves
- Police and paramedics found them on their beds in no suspicious circumstances
A retired couple carried out a suicide pact at their home and wrote ‘DNR’ (Do Not Revive) on their foreheads and hands.
An inquest heard retired company director Peter Norris, 75, was found dead in one bedroom at the large detached property in Modbury, Devon, last April, while his wife Marguerite, 74, was found dead lying in another bedroom.
An inquest at Plymouth Coroner’s Court was told that police and ambulance crews went to the property after a welfare concern was raised by neighbours who had not seen the couple for a week.
The 999 crews found Chelsea-born Peter and retired teacher Marguerite on their beds and confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.
An inquest at Plymouth Coroner’s Court (pictured) today heard that police and ambulance crews went to the property after a welfare concern was raised by neighbours who had not seen the couple for a week
The inquest heard the couple were both suffering from chronic pain because of heart and kidney disease and Peter also suffered from neuropathic pain following two strokes.
The senior Plymouth coroner Ian Arrow said empty blister packets of prescribed medication were found by their bodies and both had died from drug toxicity.
Police investigator Keeley Topham told the inquest that the letters DNR, for Do Not Revive, were written on their foreheads and hands.
She said there was evidence that ‘both had decided to die together’.
They had left instructions about the automated heating and lighting, keeping the curtains drawn to stop the light fading furniture, and had written a letter to their solicitors saying it was ‘their lives, their choice’, said the officer.
The coroner recorded suicide conclusions on the couple and said they died from drug toxicity.
He said they wrote they did not want to be revived and told their tearful relatives that ‘sadly it was their intention to end their lives’.
- For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit samaritans.org
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