Heartbroken wife found husband dead on bedroom floor so 'laid next to him and died' - TheSun

A HEARTBROKEN wife who found her husband's lifeless body in their home may have died next to him after giving up the will to live, an inquest heard.

The bodies of retired bank manager Raymond Shepherd, 76, and his wife Paula, 70, were found side-by-side on their bedroom floor nearly three weeks after anyone last saw them.

Police were called to the house after an estate agent raised the alarm, and discovered bloodstains in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom of their bungalow.


The badly decayed body of Mr Shepherd was partially covered with a duvet while Mrs Shepherd was lying next to him on the floor in her night dress.

Mrs Shepherd's world had "collapsed" after seeing her husband's body and "She couldn't see a future without him", it was heard at Portsmouth Coroner's Court.

The last people to see them alive were paramedics on March 18 last year - their lifeless bodies were found 20 days later.

Pictured: Mr Shepherd¿s daughter Alison White (left) and grandaughter (right) (name not known). A devoted wife who found the body of her husband in their home was so heartbroken she may have 'given up' her will to live, lay down and died next to him, an inquest heard today. The bodies of retired bank manager Raymond Shepherd, 76, and his wife Paula Shepherd, 70, were found lying next to each other on their bedroom floor almost three weeks after anyone last saw them. When police were called to the house after an estate agent raised the alarm, they discovered bloodstains in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom of their bungalow home. The found the body of Mr Shepherd, which had badly decayed, was partially covered with a duvet while Mrs Shepherd was lying next to him on the floor in her night dress.

The paramedics were called after Mr Shepherd, who used a mobility scooter, fell at their home in Locks Heath, Hants.

Their bodies were eventually discovered when estate agent Suzanne Ashman, who was handling the sale of their home, raised the alarm

She told the inquest the Shepherds had failed to answer any correspondence over the sale of their bungalow, which was due to go ahead a week earlier on April 1.

Mr Shepherd's daughter Alison White also visited their home on Easter Sunday during that time because it was 'unusual' for her father and stepmother not to give her children an Easter egg.

But because the couple were so well-travelled and often went on cruises, she didn't expect anything when there was no reply.