Inseparable couple who selected to die collectively after analysis are discovered lifeless at house
A couple in Cornwal chose to take their own lives following a hearbreaking terminal diagnosis for one of them – the pair in Cornwall left behind a moving letter
An inquest into the tragic death of a couple revealed they decided to die at home together following a heartbreaking diagnosis.
Lynne Hunt, 77, was diagnosed with a degenerative motor neurone disease that would have seen her “strapped to a chair and sounding like Stephen Hawking”. Already a cancer survivor, Lynne and her husband Ian Hunt, 81, decided they could not be parted from one another and were found dead in their home in Carnkie, near Helston, Cornwall in March this year.
The inquest held in Truro heard Lynne, from Slough, had trained to be a secretary and worked as the PA to the head of children services at Cornwall Council before she retired. Ian, a keen piano player and wood turner, had several careers throughout his life including air controller and carpenter.
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The couple did everything together along with their dog Fern and had lived in Cornwall since 2002.
The inquest heard that Lynne had told her family she did not want to have her head strapped to a chair or be fed through a tube. Her condition worsened with a series of falls in March and a further diagnosis found her disease was worse than first thought.
Lynne was “scared of what the disease would do to her body”, her sister Kerry said. She added: “I knew how the medical condition affected her. She was terrified of how it would affect her and how it would affect Ian. She didn’t want to continue in that way. She told me she didn’t want any of the care package. Lynne and Ian’s deaths were a huge shock but having had a look at her condition I understand what they did.
“The fact they did it in secret without their family around with a bottle of Champagne is a great sadness but I respect their choice.”
Both Lynne and Ian died from an overdose of medication, it was found after their bodies were discovered in March 15. Firefighters had been called to the scene over fears of a risk of carbon monoxide.
The couple had left a final letter, will and instructions for looking after beloved pooch Fern, DC Victoria Swan, the officer in the case, told the inquest according to Cornwall Live. The letter from the couple thanked their loved ones and the NHS staff who looked after Lynne.
DS Swan told the inquest: “Lynne knew what would happen in the near future to her body. Ian and Lynne did everything together. They were inseparable and lived for each other. They knew what the future would be like and didn’t want to live without each other so they decided to fall asleep together.”
Concluding in a joint suicide, assistant coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Guy Davies, said: “The evidence is that Lynne and Ian were a loving and devoted couple. Following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease, they clearly resolved not to be parted and took their own lives together. They did everything together and were a close couple in life and in death.”
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