Terminally ill pensioner, 78, and his wife who were 'so devoted to each other' were found dead at their bungalow just an hour after he returned home from hospital, neighbours reveal

An elderly man and his wife were found dead at their bungalow around an hour after he returned home from hospital, neighbours said.

The couple, named locally as Peter and Dora Leese, had lived at the address for 30 years.

Neighbours said Mr Leese, 78, who had terminal cancer, only arrived home in an ambulance around an hour before police – some said to be armed - and paramedics descended on the cul-de-sac.

Resident George Ebrill, 84, spoke to the couple’s only child, Mark, 57, earlier in the day before the bodies were discovered.

‘I asked him how his Dad was,’ Mr Ebrill told the Mail.

‘A big beam came over his face. Mark said ‘He’s had a scan and he’s coming home this afternoon. He’s fine.’

‘Mark was obviously pleased.’

He added: ‘An ambulance came and about an hour later all hell let loose. There were armed police and ambulances and they put up a cordon.

‘I’ve heard Mark was rushed to hospital with shock but that was just the word in the Close.’

Mr Ebrill said the couple were ‘so devoted to each other’ and added that neighbours had not been told of the circumstances of their deaths.

Another neighbour said: ‘I couldn’t believe it.

‘We’ve known Peter and Dora for years. He had been in hospital for two weeks and came home in an ambulance.

‘It’s a terrible shock’.

Staffordshire Police yesterday declined to comment on Mr Ebrill’s suggestion that armed police were deployed to the address in Meir Park, Stoke-on-Trent.

Mark Leese lives on the same estate as his parents, where a police officer answered the door.

Until around four years ago, Mrs Leese had played bowls for the Creda club in nearby Blythe Bridge.

Barbara Taylor, her bowls partner for a decade, said: ‘Dora was a wonderful person – very kind and thoughtful and she would do anything for anyone.’

The devastated 63-year-old, who lives a few streets away, added: ‘She would walk around with her little dog for a coffee and would bring me spare plants. Dora loved her bowls and she was a brilliant bowler.’

In a statement on Saturday, Staffordshire Police said: ‘We are investigating after two people died in Stoke-on-Trent.

‘We were called at 1pm this afternoon (Saturday 20 April) to report that the bodies of a man and a woman had been found at a house on Catalina Place, Meir Park.

‘The man and woman, aged in their 70s, were both pronounced dead at 2.15pm.

‘An investigation is being carried out to establish the circumstances of the incident. At this stage, we are confident there is no wider threat or risk to the community.

‘Their family are being supported by specialist officers.’

Forensic officers were still inside the neat bungalow yesterday.