| A Newbury inquest was told on Thursday how a husband and wife made a suicide pact together. The coroner was told that Peter and Nancy Halfhide both aged 86 planned to end their life together, when their disabilities became too much to bear.
Their only daughter Virginia found the bodies at their Greenham home earlier this year. Two empty gin bottles were left on the doorstep, a sign that the couple had previously indicated would be left to show that they had killed themselves.
The coroner heard how the couple had sealed a cloakroom and gassed themselves with fumes from their petrol powered lawnmower. A suicide note was found nearby.
Their unmarried daughter Virginia, 60 told the hearing “My parent’s marriage was very strong, they were devoted to each other”
“Both had a desire to die together, such was their love and devotion for each other”
Verdicts of suicide were returned at the inquest and the cause of death was confirmed as carbon monoxide poisoning. | 
