NEIGHBOURS of a Falmouth doctor and his wife who died in a suicide pact have expressed their shock at her bogus claims that she was suffering from leukaemia.

The bodies of 43-year-old Dr Michael Griffin and his 59-year-old wife Adele, of Arwenack Avenue, Falmouth, Cornwall were found in a room at the Waterloo Cross Inn, near Willand in Devon on August 16, 2002.

Mrs Griffin had told neighbours that she was suffering from leukaemia. At first that was thought to be the reason behind the two suicides but at an inquest into their deaths in Cullompton, Devon this week, it was revealed that no trace of the disease had been found in her body when a post mortem had been carried out. She also told neighbours she had been a GP - another false claim.

Teacher Susan Bowerbank, who lived next door to the Griffins, said she was surprised to find her friendly neighbour had been lying to her.

"I'm very surprised," she said. "I had no idea she wasn't ill. At times she looked quite unwell. But we should let them rest in peace now."

Coroner Dr Elizabeth Erland recorded verdicts that the couple, who married in 1991, committed suicide.

Dr Griffin had taken a fatal amount of the morphine-like drug tramadol, and his wife had also taken tramadol and the anti-depressant amitriptyline. The coroner said there was no sign of the leukaemia that Mrs Griffin, a housewife, was said to be suffering from.

A long and comprehensive inquiry by coroner's officer Mike Dommett had also revealed that Mrs Griffin was 17 years older than she originally claimed.

She had had a number of aliases and had been born Barbara Joan Field. She had been married before to a husband who died of a heart attack in December 1973 - 19 months after they were married.

She then went to live with a Mr and Mrs Hardy in London. When the couple separated she moved to Basingstoke with Mr Hardy. He died later of natural causes. She was also thought to have had a short lived marriage in 1982 or 1983 and assumed several aliases.

In a statement at the inquest Mr Dommett said Mrs Griffin had told many lies during her lifetime and he could not be sure that Dr Griffin knew everything about her past history.

In the hotel room where the couple were found was a letter addressed ''"To the police who find us.'' The letter indicates their desire to be cremated together, and their intentions of death, said the coroner.

The inquest heard that the couple were booked into the hotel on the night of August 14, 2002, the day neighbour Doreen Pike witnessed their wills.

Mrs Pike said Dr Griffin told her he was going away to Oxford with Adele, adding that she presumed it may have been for medical treatment as Mrs Griffin had leukaemia. Mrs Pike said that Dr Griffin was "smiling and laughing."

That night Dr Griffin booked the couple into the hotel, paying £100 in advance for two nights and asking not to be disturbed because he wanted a lie-in. The couple's bodies were discovered on the morning of August 16, after a cleaner had been unable to get into the room.

It was also revealed that on the day they booked in, a hearing concerning a "contentious probate matter" involving Mrs Griffin was due to be heard at the High Court in London.

It was thought to involve the disappearance of £100,000 from a Martin Clark's estate, a man she had befriended while in London.