Couple take their own lives together at level crossing
An elderly couple from Lincoln took their own lives by stepping in front of a freight train, an inquest has heard.
Peter Smith, 80 and his wife of more than 50 years, Betty, 78, were struggling to cope financially after their daughter moved back home with her boyfriend, reports to the Mirror.
On the the day they died, the couple waved goodbye to their daughter Jane saying: "Goodbye, you won't se us again" then walked to a level crossing and stood holding hands as a freight train approached.
The tragic incident happened on July 9, 2014 at the Croft Lane level crossing in Cherry Willingham.
According to the Grimsby Telegraph, Jane, 50, said on the day her parents died, she had a disagreement with her mother over where she was storing some of her belongings in the house.
She said: "I had asked if I could store some of my things in the spare room. She did not want me to as it would have made her house untidy.
She added: "Later in the morning my father said that he wanted to go into town. The reason for this was that he wanted to get his glasses altered as they were hurting him.
"My mother said that she did not want to go but eventually she agreed to accompany him.
"As they left the house between 11.20am and 11.30am my mother walked out with my father behind.
"Once my mother was out of earshot my father turned to me and said: "Goodbye, you won't see us again."
Although Jane didn't attend the inquest, she said in a statement to the hearing at Lincoln Cathedral Centre that her parents never mentioned anything about money problems.
Jane and her partner Tim Evans, 50, moved back in with her parents in May last year.
Two months later, Peter and Betty calmly walked to their deaths.
The inquest heard that the couple did not react when the driver of the 700-tonne train sounded his horn.
They died instantly.
Central Lincolnshire coroner Stuart Fisher returned verdicts of suicide on both Peter and Betty Smith.
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