The tragic last night of the My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding twins before taking their own lives

Twins Billy and Joey Smith from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding enjoyed one last night together before taking their own lives after a long battle for mental health, an investigation heard.

Kent Police Detective Sergeant Nicola Mullins spoke about how they “just wanted to be together.”

She said: “They both seemed to be struggling with their mental health.

“One didn’t want to leave the other behind.”

The brothers, both 32, were discovered three days after Christmas in a forest along a remote bridle path on the outskirts of Sevenoaks, Kent, where they used to play as children.

Uncle Phinemore Smith made the discovery shortly before noon on December 28 and called the police after they sent him a suicide note.

The letter had also been mailed to Nan Phoebe at least a day earlier.

The note read: “We have decided to leave this life behind. You will find us in the woods with Grandma where we used to have bonfires.

“Take care. We are right where we want to be.”

An autopsy on January 3 gave the cause of death as suspension.

DS Mullins said the couple who worked as tree surgeons had enjoyed “one last night together.”

An empty Jack Daniels bottle with two glasses was found next to two chairs and a campfire that was still burning.

Two knives had been stabbed into a tree with their initials and “2020” marked on the bark.

Officers found a photo of the couple, a note for Sister Leah related to the property, and both driver’s licenses inside Billy’s pocket.

Billy and Joey, who were born in Lewisham, southeast London, had turned 32 on December 16.

They were identified by their aunt Phoebe Smith at Tunbridge Wells Hospital on January 6.

Billy’s GP, Dr. Greenwood, said he had been prescribed antidepressants to deal with his anxiety and depression since December 2017.

She was also offered cognitive behavioral therapy after saying she “didn’t see the meaning of existence” and declaring twin Joey and nan Phoebe her only close family with no “real friends.”

Billy had been living with his grandmother for two months and was using his medication to treat his excruciating low back pain.

But when he was evaluated on December 10, he was deemed “not at immediate risk of suicide” as he “would not want to hurt or distress his twin brother.”

Billy spoke of plans to end his own life at the age of 40 by hanging himself and said that “he would just do it as he had made up his mind.”

He even described each day as “a battle” in text messages and said that he and Joey had previously planned to kill themselves, but his twin brother had retired.

Joey, who had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2018 and expressed his fears to his loved ones about it despite receiving the go-ahead, also suffered from mental health issues.

Their marriage ended shortly before he took his own life, something he found “difficult to handle” and claimed he had “no reason to move on.”

Joey’s wife, father of two, Charmaine, 29, who married in 2014, attended the investigation via video link with Aunt Phoebe Smith and cousins ​​Carol, Sarah and Phoebe Smith, all present at person in audience today at County Hall in Maidstone, Kent. .

Coroner Alan Blunsdon, who recorded a suicide conclusion, said: “The protective factor for each of these twins was the other, preventing the other from hurting himself even though they both had suicidal thoughts.

“It is a sad and tragic story of these young people who came to the decision that there was nothing to live for.”

After the tragedy, members of the Roma gypsy family said that Billy and Joey “came to this world together and went to the next together.”

Hundreds of people gathered to say goodbye to the twins as their funeral procession passed through Sevenoaks on Valentine’s Day.

Floral tributes were left outside her doting grandmother’s home to pay their respects before mourners followed the white horse-drawn carriages that carried the coffins to the church of San Juan Bautista.

Family and friends then stood by the grave for a private burial at Greatness Park Cemetery, where white doves were released.

Tributes poured in from friends and the traveling community, including Gypsy Wedding star Paddy Doherty.

He posted a video online describing them as “angels” and urging people to pray for them.

Billy, who lived in a house in the nearby town of Sevenoaks Weald, and Joey, who lived in Sevenoaks, appeared on the television series in 2013.

A Facebook page created in memory of the twins now has over 11,000 likes with tributes posted regularly by family and friends.

One post read: “RIP Billy and Joe, two twin brothers, came to this world together and went to the next together …

“This is a memorial page to help the family get over their grief, and for everyone to see Bill and Joe that we all knew and loved x.”

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