Couple who were found dead in the same home on the same day died from different natural causes

A young couple who were found dead at their home in Devon died from different natural causes, an inquest has heard.

Aleasha Sullivan, 32, and Joshua Sandercock, 30 were both found dead on the same day at their home in Holcombe, Devon, on 21 October 2021.

This was after police were called to the couple's home, after Aleasha's support worker raised concerns due to not seeing or hearing from her since 12 October.

A little over a week later on 21 October, she was reported missing to the police, with officers visiting the house on that morning.

Devastatingly, the officers had no response when they knocked the door, with them seeing a body against the door after looking through the letterbox.

After breaking in, the body was found to be Aleasha's, who had been dead for several days.

Facebook/Aleasha Sullivan

But while officials searched the house for potential evidence for the woman's death, they discovered the body of Joshua in the living room.

Fast forward to the current day, and the couple's family now have answers to the hard-to-believe situation surrounding their deaths.

On Thursday (20 April), an inquest at Plymouth Coroners Court heard that the police initially treated the couple's deaths as a potential crime scene.

That was until medical examinations on the bodies found that they had both died of natural causes that were completely independent of each other.

Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Deborah Cook found that Aleasha had died of pulmonary thromboembolism, which is a blood clot in the lungs.

Needle marks had also been found on her, with body toxicology tests concluding that she had taken heroin prior to her passing.

However, the low level detected at the time of the post-mortem examinations is not usually associated with fatalities.

Facebook/Aleasha Sullivan

Dr Cook added that there were no signs that indicated Aleasha had been assaulted or even fallen down the stairs.

A separate inquest was held for Joshua on Thursday, where it was revealed he had taken methadone, which he had not been prescribed, just hours before his death.

Though, like Aleasha, the dose was deemed not enough to be associated with fatalities.

Joshua's cause of death was confirmed to be as a result of pneumonia, with Dr Cook saying: "The methadone may have tipped the balance in a man suffering pneumonia to result in respiratory compromise that resulted in death."

In court, it was added that it is unclear whether Joshua died before Aleasha, but like his partner, no injuries were found on his body that could have been linked to his death.

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