The decomposing bodies of a fraudster granny and her innocent partner were found "black and rotten" by a gang of Travellers, who broke into a house in rural Limerick and discovered the two corpses.

Gory details of the discovery of the bodies of Julia Holmes and father of two Thomas Ruttle last May, were heard at their inquest in Co Limerick this afternoon.

The coroner for West Limerick directed the jury to record death by suicide through inhalation of carbon monoxide poisoning, despite pathological evidence proving inconclusive.

Reporter David Raleigh confirmed that although pathological evidence could not determine definitively how they died, both Julia Holmes and Thomas Ruttle had taken their own lives.

The couple's bodies had lain on a double bed in a upstairs room in Mr Ruttle's family home in Askeaton, Co Limerick, for nearly two months.

The bodies were discovered by a local Traveller gang who burgled the house last May.

The gang alerted Gardai and it later emerged Julia Holmes - who was wanted by the FBI and PSNI for frauds - was one of the badly decomposed corpses.

The court heard the bedroom the bodies were found in had been sealed from the inside and Mr Ruttle and Ms Holms had inhaled deadly fumes from a charcoal BBQ.