Tributes have been paid to a couple who died in their home in a Norfolk market town.

Dereham Times: A cordon in place and emergency services on the scene of an incident in Old Becclesgate in Dereham.A cordon in place and emergency services on the scene of an incident in Old Becclesgate in Dereham. (Image: (C) Archant 2020)

June and Stanley Grout, who were found “unresponsive” on Thursday by neighbours in their home on Old Becclesgate, Dereham, were in their 70s and 80s.

Mr Grout was known to some locals as ‘Peter’ or ‘Grouty’.

In a tribute, James Edge, a customer assistant at the Co-op supermarket on Dereham Market Place, said: “Peter did get out during the first lockdown and almost every weekday evening he would come in and buy bread for his ‘donkeys’. ‘They love that ‘ol bread,’ he would say.

“We always used to have a little chat about the fortunes or not of Norwich City, and he would recall the last time he saw them play at Carrow Road, in the ‘Old River End’. ‘Bloody Rubbish’, he said. I don’t think Norwich City won that particular game.

“He was a great guy, with a real dry sense of humour and I, like a lot of people in Dereham, will miss him. R.I.P. Peter (Grouty).”

“I would sometimes see her [June] walking her dog, when I was out walking mine. She worked at Roy’s many years ago,” said Dawn, a local resident. “It’s such an awful thing to happen.”

Neighbours were evacuated from their homes that afternoon amid warnings from police of a suspected gas leak.

Norfolk police carried out a further investigation of the property with a forensics team on Friday and said then that they were ‘continuing to investigate’ the circumstances surrounding the death of a man and woman in Dereham.

They added: “Emergency services were called to a property in Becclesgate on Thursday 5 November 2020 shortly before 12pm after concerns had been raised for the welfare of a couple.

“The deaths continue to be treated as unexplained... Post mortem examinations will be held in due course.”

* Did you know the couple and want to pay tribute? Email noah.vickers@archant.co.uk