A bond woven in tragedy, they lived and died together

They lived together - and died together - after a life haunted by tragedy and abuse. Their childhoods marred by grief after their parents took their own lives together. History was tragically to repeat itself decades later.

Identical twin brothers Paul and Peter Geill died side-by-side at the two-bed flat they shared in Rochdale. Little is known of their lives, but neighbours on the fourth floor of the Seven Sisters tower block where they'd lived since 2016 described the brothers as 'always cheerful, pleasant and well-dressed.' Such was their resemblance, they often got them mixed up.

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But those who came into contact with the pair told of how they never enjoyed the company of visitors, and were always by themselves. Even to outsiders, their loneliness was palpable.

They were two of seven siblings, but following their deaths, police could only track down two of them, and only one was able to give a brief history of their lives before they ended in such horrific circumstances. Born in Stockport, the brothers - said to have a very close bond - were put into foster care after their parents took their lives together.

But the twins, an empty courtroom at Rochdale Coroner's Court heard, 'kept together and lived together'. Their bodies were found at the flat they shared in Dunkirk Rise on College Bank Way in the town centre, on November 27 last year after concerns grew when they didn't collect their weekly methadone prescriptions from a chemist.

Details of their difficult upbringing were heard in court. They'd become addicted to heroin after suffering awful abuse as young boys.

The brothers had been trying to kick their habit together, but