A mother and son found dead in a Wiltshire village have been named locally – as a neighbour describes how he found the pair and alerted the emergency services.
The bodies of David Symonds, 50s, and his elderly mother June were discovered at an address in Salisbury Road, Bulford, on Monday evening (3 April).
Neighbour Paul Pegasus told of how he entered the unlocked house over concerns for their welfare.
“I saw my friend knocking at the door so I went over to see him and said three days earlier I had been knocking at the door and didn’t get any response”, he told Wiltshire 999s.
Adding: “I said let’s try the door to see if it’s open and it was open; the door was unlocked. We went into both rooms and both were dead. June was in the living room and Dave was upstairs in his bedroom.
“We dialled 999 and they said we must do heart compressions on him, so I did for about 30 minutes until paramedics came.”
Emergency crews attended the scene, pronouncing the pair dead at around 7.30pm and an investigation was launched into the circumstances.
Paul continued: “I was dazed afterwards, really shocked, I still am really.
“June was very unwell, she was falling over all the time and David was struggling.
“They were lovely friendly people and they didn’t have any enemies. He’d always watch the road and know what was going on and who was around; he was friendly with the shop assistants down the road, he would always spend time in there.”
Another neighbour said June suffered from health problems and walked using a frame, whilst her son known locally as Dave, cared for her full-time.
Both were well-respected and many neighbours described them as “friends”.
Another person said: “Dave was a lovely man, as was June. It’s an absolute tragedy they are both gone.
“I just hope that nothing terrible happened and they passed away naturally. Unfortunately the village gossip suggests otherwise but I doubt we’ll ever really know.”
Wiltshire Police confirmed that both deaths are being treated as unexplained but non-suspicious.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service attended their house yesterday to carry out a carbon monoxide test at the request of detectives – which proved negative.
