Cramlington families' anguish at deaths of two best friends

Jul 30 2010 by Laura Caroe, The Journal

The devastated 49-year-old said: “I came downstairs on Tuesday and found seven letters on the kitchen table, all written by Christopher.

“One was addressed to me, the others were to other members of the family and friends.

“I don’t want to say what was in them, it’s very personal. The police have taken them away.”

His mother Jean, who lives in Byker, Newcastle, said she couldn’t understand as she had never seen any signs of Chris being unhappy.

The 53-year-old said: “He said in his letter that I mustn’t get upset. I always said to him he was my only son and he was special to me.

“I loved him to bits. I’m sure the two had made some sort of pact. It is so sad that youngsters are doing things like this.”

Hundreds of tributes have continued to flood in on social networking sites including Facebook and flowers have been laid at the entrance to the scrub land where they were found together.

The pensioner who made the gruesome discovery, at 9.15am on Tuesday, needed hospital treatment for shock.

Northumbria Police would not confirm whether a suicide pact was part of the investigation.

Christopher and Kieran, who also went by the surname McConaghy, of Westerkirk, Cramlington, both studied at Cramlington Learning Village, before working in McDonald’s on Westmorland Road together.

Christopher later gained a promotion to shift manager at the Silverlink branch, North Tyneside, where he worked to save enough cash to go on holiday to Magaluf, Majorca.