Two men found dead in a car in Winteringham had made a suicide pact on the internet, an inquest heard.

Craige Harris, 44, of Cleethorpes and Naresh Kumar Ahir, 40, from Wolverhampton, died after gassing themselves.

The car, which had home-made signs warning of a chemical hazard attached to it, was discovered by jogger Fiona Wright on Booth Nooking Lane in the village, shortly after 7am on July 8 last year.

The inquest, held at the Civic Centre in Scunthorpe, heard Mr Harris and Mr Ahir had no previous connection to each other.

A Humberside Police investigation following the deaths established a series of e-mails had been sent between the two men to plan the suicide in the days leading up to it.

PC Nick Twinham, who was part of the investigation, said the first message recovered by police was from Mr Ahir to Mr Harris on June 28.

He read a transcript of the message, which said: “Thank you for getting back to me. I am serious.

“Give me brief details about you, where you are coming from, when and where we do this. Do you have a car?”

Mr Harris’ reply, again read out at the hearing by PC Twinham, said he believed he had nothing in his life, had lost his job and was in an abusive relationship.

The inquest heard Mr Ahir travelled by train from Wolverhampton to Scunthorpe on July 7 and met up with Mr Harris.

PC Twinham confirmed Mr Harris was under investigation at the time of his death in connection with “serious offences”.

Tina Brookes, Mr Harris’ partner, said the investigation meant he was suspended from his job teaching IT to adults with special needs and his work with the scouting movement.

But when asked about the effect of this, she said: “He seemed to be OK with it.”

Miss Brookes said their relationship had become “very tense” but added he had given no indication of being suicidal and they had planned to marry in June this year.

Mr Ahir’s brother, Ashok Ahir, also gave evidence.

He said Mr Ahir had previously been the victim of a machete attack in Wolverhampton. It left him scarred and led to the onset of depression, which he “never fully recovered from”.

North Lincolnshire coroner Paul Kelly recorded a verdict of suicide. He said: “My conclusion in both cases is the deceased died by suicide in furtherance of a pact facilitated by a specialist interest forum.”