THE parents of a husband, thought to have murdered his wife before committing suicide, have been described as 'broken' by their neighbours.

Police believe a husband, found dead in a garden in Streetly, killed his wife in Cofton Park Close in Rednal, before taking his own life 23 miles away.

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The bodies were found in the early hours of this morning, and the couple has since been named locally as James and Amy Barnes.

It is believed 30-year-old James killed himself in the garden of his parents Vivien and Robert Barnes' bungalow in Linforth Drive.

Peter Cooley, 79, who lives opposite, said: "We were woken up at around 1am by several blue flashing lights.

"The police car out the front has been here since around 7am. James was a nice lad.

"He acquired a girlfriend in his late teens. Viv suffered from multiple sclerosis which is a horrible disease."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: "I haven't seen James here for at least two years.

"He lived here for a long time but went off to live with his new bride I believe a while back. He has a brother too but he moved out as well.

"I saw family arriving there earlier. Viv looked broken and shattered, which you would be if you found your son dead in your garden.

"She isn't in the best of health anyway, but you can't begin to think what they are going through at the moment."

Amy Barnes, 32, is believed to have been a nurse at the neonatal unit in Birmingham Women's Hospital.

James previously described his wife as "perfect" and "beautiful" in Facebook posts at the time of their wedding in 2014.

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Commenting on a photo of the bride and her bridesmaids from their wedding day James wrote: "They all looked perfect, even better than I had imagined in the planning :)

"And of course my bride, well she had me spooked and dreading what she had as she threw me off the scent of what she had got, but when I had a sneaky look over my shoulder as she turned the corner down the aisle in the church... she took my breathe away, I had to focus and look towards the altar, turned to my brother and said, "bro, she's beautiful". Absolutely stunning <3"

An investigation into the deaths is ongoing and detectives are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.