Devoted David Jeffcock was fighting bone cancer and was exhausted by the constant pain and wife Susan was unable to face life without him
The family of an elderly couple who plunged 180ft to their deaths while holding hands were “completely devoted to each other”, according to their grieving family.
David, 80, and Susan Jeffcock, 74, set out on what they knew would be their final journey together by travelling from their flat, which overlooked the harbour in Whitby, and up the 199 steps and to the cliffs that oversee the town. They had left a message back at the flat for their solicitor before slipping through a fence.
They momentarily stood at the top of East Cliff before holding hands and stepping out over the edge, the Daily Mail reports. David had been fighting bone cancer and was exhausted by the constant pain it brought, with his wife of 52 years unable to face life without him. In the courteous message they left for their solicitor, David apologised for any shock their deaths might cause, but added at the end of the heartbreaking letter: “Susan wants to come with me”.
David’s nephew Kevin Shepherd, 66, spoke of their “complete devotion to each other” and believes they had been planning to end their lives carefully for some time, reports Yorkshire Live.
He had watched his uncle, a retired taxi and bus driver, change from the cheerful and outgoing man he once was to someone who was withdrawn and struggling with everyday life. The couple didn’t have children, so the burden of his daily care rested entirely on Susan, who could only watch powerlessly as his condition worsened over time.
Eventually, David’s agony became too much to bear, prompting the pair to decide to end their lives, with Susan declaring she couldn’t carry on without him.
Kevin, a funeral celebrant from Rotherham, revealed: “It is extremely sad to think of them in that position, where they both wanted to take their own lives and to go together. The last time I saw them, my Uncle David really wasn’t himself. He was withdrawn and clearly struggling with the pain brought about by the bone cancer.
“He told me that the Gabapentin he was taking wasn’t having very much effect and that he was really struggling with the pain. It looks as though in the end it was just too much.
“We think it’s possible he may have learnt he didn’t have much longer to live and rather than live out that time in pain he had chosen to end it. ‘Between them they had come to the decision that Susan wanted to go with him, I suppose she just didn’t see what her life would be without him.
“There was no immediate family to inform but I was named in Uncle David’s will and their solicitor got in touch to say ‘I’m sorry but Mr and Mrs Jeffcocks have both passed away. It came as a shock to lose them both at once and initially I wondered if it might have been a car accident, but the solicitor indicated from the letter that they had taken their own lives.”
David, who hailed from Sheffield, wrote a letter to his solicitor and on their final day, he hand-delivered it to the Whitby practice, posting it through the letterbox. David, originally from Sheffield, spent most of his life there, working for the council transporting children to special needs schools in his later years.
He did, however, spend three years in Australia as one of the UK’s ‘£10 poms’, emigrating under the government’s Assisted Passage Scheme to work as a postman before returning to Sheffield.
He met Susan around 1970 after she moved to Sheffield from her native Hemsworth. They eventually retired to Whitby in their 60s, seeking a tranquil lifestyle.
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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