Son says Fermanagh couple's death was probably planned
THE son of the elderly couple found dead in Enniskillen this week has said he believes they had planned their deaths many years ago, as it came to light following a post-mortem examination yesterday that his mother died from suffocation.
Ann Barbour, 83, was found dead at her home on the Sligo Road on Tuesday by a neighbour and the following day the body of her 88-year-old husband Bill was recovered from Rossole Lough.
A post-mortem examination found that the former Second World War veteran had drowned.
It is understood that Mrs Barbour was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease with her husband acting as her primary carer.
Speaking on BBC Newsline last night, the couple's son Dr James Barbour revealed that his mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's 10 years ago, and that her own mother had died after suffering from it.
"I strongly suspect, although I have no proof, that my mother would have said to my father a long time ago that if she found that she had this condition, that he would not allow things to progress beyond a point," he said.
"And I suspect that she may have made him a promise. Neither of my parents had religious beliefs so I think that what happened to my mother on Monday evening was predetermined by my mother many years ago, and I think that what happened to my father on Monday evening was probably determined some time ago...as well."
Dr Barbour heartbreakingly revealed that a neighbour of his parents had found a note left on their door, indicating what had happened.
He said that the note said that Alzheimer's was "not an illness to be suffered unnecessarily...we have lived too long."
And it ended with the line: "Sorry about last night."
Dr Barbour said that the "natural feeling" of the family in the wake of the double tragedy was for the "loneliness he (Bill Barbour) must have felt, carrying this commitment, this plan, within him and not to be able to tell us for fear we would seek to try and take the matter out of his hands in some way."
And he said that there was possibly a need for the laws in place surrounding these kind of situations to be relaxed, so that no one in the future would find themselves in the position his father had been in on Monday night, wading into a cold, dark river.
Yesterday, tributes continued to pour in.
Mr Barbour, who taught at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen, was also a former member of the Alliance Party and a past chairman of the local branch of the Royal British Legion.
Mrs Barbour, originally from England, had spent a period working as secretary at Portora's now closed preparatory school.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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