An inquest into the mysterious deaths of Thomas Ruttle and Julia Holmes has heard they deliberated tried to kill themselves, but their precise cause of death cannot be determined.
56-year-old Thomas Ruttle and 63-year-old Julia Holmes were found in the home at Boolaglass, Askeaton, County Limerick, in a badly decomposing state on the 18th of May last year.
Evidence read into the coroners court by Inspector Brian O'Donovan heard that Sergeant Gearoid Thompson was the first garda who went into the bedroom and discovered the bodies.
He had been alerted to the bodies after five members of the Harty family fromAskeaton had arrived at Newcastle West Garda Station in an extremely agitated state, after they had broken into the Ruttle house to steal scrap metal when they made the gruesome discovery.
The inquest heard that 56-year-old Thomas Ruttle and his conwoman partner 63-year-old Julia Holmes were located side by side in a badly decomposing state in their double bed.
The embers of three makeshift homemade barbecues were found at the foot of the bed. The fireplace was completely sealed with aluminium foil stuffed up the chimney, the windows were closed and black material draped over them, while a rolled up blue towel or blanket was found at the bottom of the main bedroom door.
A .22 rifle and shotgun were also found in the bedroom but gardaí confirmed these were not discharged.
Several hand written letters were found on kitchen table which outlined instructions for people finding the bodies and
afterwards.
State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy outlined how post mortems on the couple indicated no evidence of any gun shot wounds and no evidence at all of any trauma.
Prof Cassidy said samples taken from the body were unsuitable for analysis for Carbon monoxide, due to the length of time between death and their discovery.
She concluded the couple's causes of death cannot be confirmed from a pathology point of view. However she said no third party was involved and that the bedroom was deliberately staged to produce carbon monoxide and the circumstances of their deaths were consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning.
Coroner Antoinette Simon said based on the evidence given and circumstances of the discovery of the bodies, that verdicts of suicide were the only option.
She added that she had considered the letters and she was not reading them out.
The jury of seven men returned verdicts in accordance with the medical evidence of asphyxia type death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
