Children orphaned by holiday falls (From Salisbury Journal)

Children orphaned by holiday falls

2:48pm Friday 31st August 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

A married couple's children were orphaned on a family holiday after their parents plunged to their deaths in separate incidents just days apart.

Roger and Mathilde Lamb were visiting Morocco with their children in August last year when Mrs Lamb plunged 60ft from their apartment near Marrakech.

She had apparently been remonstrating with noisy revellers in the streets below, who were taking part in celebrations connected to Ramadan.

Mrs Lamb, who was 43 and known as Tilly to friends, died on August 17 last year. Mr Lamb, 47, a geotechnical civil engineer, was said to have attempted suicide following his wife's death, and was spotted wading into the sea with a backpack full of rocks before locals intervened.

A few days later, the couple's grief-stricken children - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - were said to have been waiting to meet their father after breakfast, only to discover he had fallen from a second-floor balcony at their new accommodation, a few streets away from where Mrs Lamb fell. He was pronounced dead in hospital on August 22.

The inquest into Mr and Mrs Lamb's death, held in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, heard the couple's marriage had been "on a knife-edge" and they were concerned with "financial problems" in the months before the holiday.

The court heard that Mr Lamb had been working in New Zealand since early 2010, and there were plans for the whole family to move there from their home in Wiltshire.

Mrs Lamb had reservations about emigrating, the hearing was told.

Medical records read to the court said Mr Lamb had trouble sleeping since 2010, and his marriage was "on a knife-edge". He had also felt "suicidally low", the hearing was told.

Friends said the Lambs used to have parties and a busy social life, but Mr Lamb had recently become interested in living as a "new-age traveller".