POLICE are treating the death of a couple whose bodies were found at their flat in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire on Thursday afternoon as a case of murder-suicide.
Post mortems were carried out on Mr Robert Bruce and his wife, Jean, yesterday. Police said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the case.
Detective Chief Superintendent John Ogg, Central Scotland Police's director of crime management, said: ''As a result of the post mortem we can say that we are not looking for anyone else.''
The post mortem is understood to have revealed that Mr Bruce suffocated his wife with a pillow or cushion.
He is then thought to have remained in the flat with her body for five days, drinking alone, before killing himself with a cocktail of pain killers and prescribed drugs.
Police found empty pill bottles scattered over the living room of the flat when they broke in. A toxicologist's report will reveal exactly what drugs were used. No note was found.
Detectives think that Mrs Bruce was murdered by her husband early on the evening of Wednesday May 13.
A team of detectives led by the head of Stirling CID, Detective Inspector Gordon McKenzie, investigated the case.
Police appealed for anyone who had been in the area of the flat in the last week to contact them in case they have information that might throw further light on the incident.
They also called for information from anyone who was in the area, of the beer garden of the nearby Westerton Arms and who might have heard or seen a scuffle.
Mr Bruce, 48, and Mrs Bruce, 47, lived alone in the flat. Villagers said they were suffering from debt problems, and feared losing their home.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article