A murder investigation has now been launched
(Picture: Getty Images/EyeEm)A murder investigation has been opened in southwest France after the dead bodies of a British couple were found at their isolated countryside home.
Friends of the pair – who have not been named – visited after not hearing from them for at least three days in Boudrac, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, south of Toulouse.
When they arrived at their home – which was due to be turned into a bed and breakfast guest house – on Sunday afternoon they found the lifeless body of a 65-year-old woman.
“She has been dead for some days and had a rope around her neck,” said local prosecutor Christophe Amunzateguy.
“Wounds were also found on her body – there were signs of strangulation and blows.”
When police arrived later they found the woman’s husband, 64, dead in an outhouse.
“He was found hanged, and had left a note” said Mr Amunzateguy, adding: “The couple had a project to open a guesthouse but it was ended because of financial difficulties.”
Confirming that a murder investigation had been opened, Mr Amunzateguy, the public prosecutor in Saint-Gaudens, said “there was no evidence of a third party being involved.”
He added that an autopsies would be performed on each of the bodies on Tuesday, to try and establish a cause of death.
The couple had bought their house in Boudrac – which has a population of around 130 – in early 2021 and wanted to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
