Elderly couple in suicide pact inseparable to the end

So, with music playing in the background, they held each other for one last time and said goodbye.

In just a matter of moments they were both dead. In a series of tragic suicide notes they explained how they could not bear to live without each other.

Plagued by ill health in recent years they saw no other alternative and had, therefore, decided it was fitting that they leave together.

One of the couple's two grown-up sons, spoke of his grief at their two-bedroom detached bungalow in Sternall, North Yorkshire.

Andrew Bedell, 51, said: "I am just absolutely exhausted and devastated about what has happened. It has been a terrible shock to us and we are just having to cope minute by minute at the moment.

"I haven't slept and I just can't think straight. My parents were lovely people."

He and his 56-year-old brother, who lives in Australia, had both received letters, he said, but refused to disclose their contents.

Married for 56 years Mr Bedell, 81, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, and his wife, 76, were discovered by their cleaner and a neighbour lying on a bed with the music still playing on Monday morning.

Neighbours in the quiet cul-de-sac where they had lived in for 21 years said the community had been stunned by their deaths.

Alice Dimmock, 78, said: "They were a very loving couple and very close to one another. Where ever they went they went together.

"They were both declining in health and I think one was worried that the other would be left on their own."

Her husband Kenneth, 80, said the couple - known locally as Ted and Nan - had been suffering with ill health for some years.

"We have known them for many years, and we know that they have both struggled with their health for some time," he said.

"Ted had Parkinson's disease and walked with a stick for many years.

He added: "We were going out shopping at about 9.30am on Monday when we saw the police at their house.

"At first I thought they'd been burgled or something, but when we went along we realised that couldn't be the case. The whole street is absolutely shattered by what's happened."

Mr Bedell had worked for the Milk Board and was a gunner for the RAF in the Second World War, losing the sight in one eye when his plane was shot down.

He was also the steward at the local Methodist church whilst his wife, a former cookery teacher, worked as a chef.

Rev Ann Vaughan, the minister at the local Methodist church, said she had known Mr Bedell for 30 years as a regular church-goer.

She explained that he had given up his role of steward about nine years ago due to Parkinson's and had also been forced to stop driving.

"They were a lovely couple and had a very happy marriage and both brought their own graces to the marriage," she said. "They were very generous people and will be greatly missed."

Local postmaster Richard Horseman said Mr Bedell was a keen supporter of Yorkshire cricket and the pair had gone to Headingly to watch Yorkshire play.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police would not reveal how they elderly couple took their own lives.

He said: "We will be preparing a report for the coroner but there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances and we are continuing our investigations."

An inquest is expected to be opened later this week.