CONCORDE LEGEND AND WIFE ‘MURDER-SUICIDE’
Neighbours reveal strain dementia put on pair
A CONCORDE pilot who flew the Queen and Princess Diana has been found dead with his dementia-hit wife in a suspected murder-suicide.
The bodies of Tony Meadows, 84, and Paula, 83, were found at their remote £1.1million country farmhouse – a few miles from the Duchess of Cambridge’s family home.
Locals said he had doted on his wife of 60 years. One neighbour said: “I have known them years. They were a lovely couple.
“Tony was looking after Paula extremely well. It hasn’t sunk in yet. It is just very sad.”
Another added: “Dementia is a terrible thing. Tony was coping so well with Paula’s disease but it obviously just became too much for him in the end.”
One woman in Yattenden, near the village of Bucklebury, Berks, said Paula had stopped recognising her as her condition progressed. She added: “I had known her for years. And her husband too. We are all so shocked.” Police were called to the property at around 7.35pm on Tuesday.
Tony made history as co-pilot on the first commercial Concorde flight from London to New York in 1977, taking full control on the return leg. He piloted the first flight to Singapore weeks later and went on to spend 14 years flying supersonic jets. In 1979, he flew the Queen and Prince Philip, and later Princess Diana and stars including Simon and Garfunkel. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard, of Thames Valley Police, said: “We have launched a murder enquiry but we are not looking for anybody else.”
The Concorde fleet was taken out of service in 2003.