Twins found dead by cliff 'were holding parent's ashes'

Muriel and Bernard Burgess were unemployed and 'reclusive'

(File photo) (Getty Images)

Twins who were found dead at the bottom of cliffs in Dover had rucksacks containing the ashes of their parents, an inquest was told.

Muriel and Bernard Burgess were found on New Year’s Day while coastguards were searching for another body.

The 59-year-olds were unemployed and “reclusive” and reportedly struggled with the deaths of their parents.

Coroner Patricia Harding said it was not clear if the twins had committed suicide.

"The evidence doesn't disclose to the required standard of proof whether there was an intention by them to take their own lives or was indeed simply a tragic accident," Ms Harding said, according to the BBC.

Mr and Ms Burgess had struggled to come to terms with the death of their mother in particular, who died in 2014.

Their father died in 1984 and one rucksack found near the twins contained ashes with his name. A second rucksack had ashes with their mother's name.

The twins lived together in a caravan and neither married or ever had children.

Their bodies were found as police searched for 45-year-old Scott Enion, who had been spotted jumping from Langdon Cliffs.

All three bodies were found on the same day within half a mile of each other but it is not thought the deaths are connected.