Together in life and together in sleep

OAP couple left tape message for family before taking own lives; Note on door read 'If all goes to plan, we will be dead'

- OLIVIA KELLEHER

AN elderly woman with stage four pancreatic cancer and her husband took their lives together at their home in 2021, leaving a tape saying they wanted to be "together in sleep", an inquest heard.

Tony and Phyllis Gilbert, both 83, were found dead at their bungalow in Dromneavane in Kenmare, Co Kerry, shortly after 10am on November 14, 2021.

Their daughter-in-law Beryl Gilbert did regular shopping for the pair.

Giving evidence at an inquest in Tralee District Court, she said that arising out of the Covid-19 restrictions, her plan that morning was to leave the shopping at the door of their home.

However, she spotted a note pinned to the door. The note on A4 paper read: "All going to plan we should be dead."

The note asked her to call gardai and it further read that there was a front-door key in a flowerpot with which gardai could gain entry.

Coroner for Kerry, Aisling Quilter, noted that shortly after the bodies of the pair were found, gardai spotted a tape recorder that had two recordings of the couple's voices.

A note directed gardai to listen to the recordings.