Two bodies found near Honiton, police treating it as a murder and suicide .
The husband and wife lived in the remote hamlet of Dunkeswell, near Honiton in east Devon, and have been named locally as Michael Beck, 62, and Nicola Beck, who would have had her 53rd birthday today, according to reports.
‘They used to commute from London and kept themselves to themselves. The house was on the market for a long time but I know the couple had trouble selling it,’ a neighbour told MailOnline.
The paper reported that Mr Beck was a company director at a property management firm.
As well as their £1.2 million farmhouse, they are said to have owned a townhouse in Chelsea, next to Stamford Bridge football ground.
One neighbour told the paper: ‘They were very rich people. The house is beautiful and is down a private lane and out in the sticks. It is very tragic but we have no idea what sparked this.’
Devon and Cornwall Police said the deaths were being treated as a ‘domestic-related murder and suicide’.
The couple’s next of kin have been informed but they have yet to be formally identified.
Detective Inspector Steve Davies, from the Major Crime Unit, said: ‘We are conducting house-to-house inquiries and have been carrying out searches at the premises today.
‘We are not looking for any other person in connection with this isolated incident and can confirm that no other person was present at the premises at the time of this incident.’
