Suicide pact father and son 'could not live without each other'

Their bodies were discovered when a neighbour peered through their letterbox in Woodford Road, Failsworth, Greater Manchester, on July 5 last year.

Hugh Robertson, 87, and his son Donald Robertson, 58, had always lived together, Ida Wrigley, sister-in-law to Hugh, told the coroner.

Both suffered ill health, she said. Hugh Robertson, a retired engineer and widower, suffered from arthritis and high blood pressure, and also complained of lung problems.

Mrs Wrigley, of Gatley, said he kept a pigeon as a pet but killed it when the doctor told him to get rid of it on health grounds.

She said Donald Robertson never married and lived at home. He worked as a draughtsman and was a qualified glider pilot but gave up his work and hobby after being diagnosed with Dystonia, a neurological movement disorder which causes involuntary spasms.

Mrs Wrigley said he had suffered a brain tumour as a child and, in 2000, was found in bed having taken an overdose and left a note on his computer.

She said she last saw the pair at their home six weeks before their deaths. She said: "They were laughing and joking, they made tea, they offered us cake."

Mrs Wrigley added: "I don't think they could have lived without each other."

Neighbour Christine Lomas, in a statement read to the court, said she went to the Robertson's house on July 5. She said: "I looked through the lounge window and saw mugs on the table with a lot of pills on it."

She said she pushed the mail through the letterbox and saw Hugh hanging and Donald lying on the floor nearby. The ligature around his neck had snapped, causing him to fall.

Police investigating their orchestrated deaths discovered two boxes containing personal documents marked for the attention of their family and solicitor.

A handwritten note from Hugh Robertson was found on the kitchen table, which made reference to his failing health and a worsening of his son's Dystonia.

Coroner Simon Nelson described the pair as "gentlemen" and "congenial characters" and said theirs was one of the saddest cases he had dealt with in 10 years.

He said: "There was a tremendous bond between the two of them and I rather feel that as each saw the other deteriorating they discussed and considered a course of action that would effectively, from their perspective, free each of them of the pain that each endured."

The coroner said he was satisfied there was nothing criminally suspicious about their deaths. He added: "Just as they cared for each other in life they were united also in death."

Mrs Wrigley said: "If one had died, the other couldn't have lived, I think that was the problem."

The coroner recorded a verdict that each man took his own life.

Mrs Wrigley said she learned only after their deaths that Donald Robertson had become a Reiki healer and in his will had donated £500 (€557) to a healing centre in Ashton-under-Lyne.