Twins jumped from flat window in ‘suicide pact’

TWIN brothers plunged to their deaths from a Birmingham tower block window in a ‘suicide pact,’ an inquest heard.

Before the tragedy, one brother warned ‘we came together, we go together’.

Marcis and Armands Graudins, both 33, were found dead next to one another outside Wickets Tower, off Pershore Road, Edgbaston, on March 2 this year.

Neighbours heard a “loud bang” at 3am and a caretaker later discovered the two bodies as he arrived for work hours later.

Nothing could be done to save the brothers, who had both suffered with anxiety and had jumped from an open window in their shared flat in Wyatt Close.

Weeks before their deaths, Marcis told a doctor he had thought about suicide and had been “measuring windows”.

But he reassured the GP he would not take his own life “due to the effect it would have on his twin brother”.

Armands told colleagues he “didn’t want to grow old” and if anything happened to his twin, ‘he would go too’.

Senior Coroner Louise Hunt recorded a conclusion of suicide for both brothers, alongside “multiple injury” caused by a fall from height as their cause of death.

Birmingham Coroner’s Court heard details of the brothers’ struggles with anxiety and steroid use.

They were avid gym-goers and quiet neighbours who kept themselves to themselves.

Steroids and “related paraphernalia” were found inside their flat, though these did not contribute or cause their deaths. The brothers, both single men, were identified by work colleagues.

Marcis, a production operative, was found to have drugs in his system, but they did not contribute to his actions or his death.

He had a history of injecting steroids into his ankles, the inquest heard. He also suffered with social anxiety and used bodybuilding as a way of dealing with his mental health issues.

The inquest heard how Armands, an assistant production supervisor, also took steroids and other drugs bought off the black market.

In a statement, his supervisor described him as a “helpful guy” and “very focused” but said “he had always said he didn’t want to grow old” and didn’t want a family.

Armands had also told his supervisor how he was kicked out of his family home in Latvia aged 12 or 13 and that it was now ‘only him and his brother’.

Mrs Hunt, reading the supervisor’s statement, added: “He always said if anything happened to his brother, he would go too. He would say: ‘We came together, we go together’.

The last time he saw him, on February 15, he was “trying to talk, but couldn’t,” the inquest was told.

As he was struggling to speak, he asked Armands to write down what he wanted to say.

His supervisor said: “I was aware his brother had been in hospital. He wrote down ‘I’m not coming back, I will see you on the other side’.

He said: ‘My parents have been in a car crash and are in a coma’. It was clear he was mentally unwell from what he was writing.”