A couple found dead in their caravan on a Sheppey holiday site had meticulously planned their deaths in a joint suicide pact, an inquest heard.

John Newton, 49, and his wife Sallyann Newton, 50, had posted a letter to the police setting out their intentions the day before taking their own lives, even leaving instructions where officers would find a hidden key to their locked home.

When PC Stephen King attended the Newton’s home in Elmhurst Caravan Park, Second Avenue, Eastchurch, on June 30, he found the couple dead on the double bed.

An air vent in the room had been sealed with tape and a towel used to block off the space under the door.

A number of letters addressed to family and friends were on the dining table along with a joint will signed by them both.

Assistant Mid Kent Coroner Kate Thomas said that the letters indicated that the Newtons had “lost the zest for life.”

Their plans had not materialised as they had hoped and they had a fear of growing old.

Miss Thomas described the case as tragic, noting that they were not in fact very old.

Miss Thomas read a statement from Beryl Zammitt, Mrs Newton’s mother, in which she said that her daughter had previously spoken of an agreement that she and her husband had made to take their own lives if life became unbearable.

A post mortem examination revealed that they had died from carbon monoxide and morphine poisoning, with the morphine being the result of the couple having ingested heroin. Some traces of cannabis were also found.

“It is clear that they acted together and had methodically and with care planned their own deaths" - Kate Thomas

DS Heather Thompson, who investigated their deaths, said that the couple’s computer tablet had been used to research how to inject heroin just three days before their bodies were found, although no drug paraphernalia was found in the flat, which was “immaculate.”

There was no sign of forced entry nor of any third party involvement.

The couple were last seen alive on the night of June 28, when neighbours spotted them burning items in a barbecue outside their home.

They had been married only two years, but had been together for 27 years. They worked as landscape gardeners.

Miss Thomas ruled that the deaths were suicide, saying: “It is clear that they acted together and had methodically and with care planned their own deaths.”