AN OXFORD couple described as "pillars of the community" have been found dead in what is being treated as a suspected double suicide.

Bill and Mary Warburton, of Lime Road, North Hinksey, were discovered at their home at about 7.30pm on Monday.

Last night, police confirmed their deaths were not being treated as suspicious.

Friends of the Warburtons yesterday remembered a “wonderful, devoted and generous” husband and wife.

Mr Warburton, 67, was a retired director of Warburton Building Services, based in Farmoor – as was his wife – and president of the Rotary Club of Oxford Isis.

He had also served as a churchwarden at St John’s Church in New Hinksey for more than 30 years.

It is understood Mrs Warburton, 66, had a long-term health condition.

The couple had three grown-up children, Claire, James and Richard, and four grandchildren, Tom, Kate, Max and Niamh.

Roger Long, a fellow member of the Oxford Isis Club, said Mr Warburton, a founding member of the club, was responsible for some of its biggest achievements.

He said: “Last year we celebrated 25 years of the club and to commemorate it we reinstated Bill as our Silver Anniversary president.

“He was involved with a number of committees including the international committee and the fundraising committee.

“Bill was a dynamo, always encouraging people to get involved, very much in the engine room of the club, offering help and advice to people.

“They were an absolutely lovely couple. We’re devastated to hear the news.”

Last autumn, Mr Warburton headed a team that planted purple crocus bulbs outside the John Radcliffe Hospital to highlight the need to immunise against polio.

Purple is the tiny dab of colour put on a child’s little finger to indicate that they have been innoculated against the deadly virus.

Last night, the hospital said they were pleased to know a blanket of 10,000 of the flowers will now bloom outside the entrance each year, as a reminder of the work Rotary International, and Mr Warburton, has been doing.

Sandy Briscoe, head of fundraising at Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Oxford, which was the Isis Rotary Club’s chosen charity, remembered a “lovely couple”, adding: “It was a terrible shock to hear about Bill and his lovely wife, they were very much a devoted couple.

“The club has been very loyal to Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre with its support and, as you can expect, we have got to know Bill, his wife and all the Rotarians very well.

"We are all very sad to hear this news and would like to pay a tribute to a wonderful, devoted, generous and kind couple who will be very sadly missed.”

Father James Wilkinson, South with New Hinksey parish priest, said: “The sudden death of Bill and Mary Warburton has left the parish in deep shock.

“They were both valued members of our church community who contributed richly to our life.

“Both Bill and Mary lived in the area of New Hinksey at one time or another in their early lives very close to the church, and indeed were married here.

“As a couple they were fun and outgoing, firm supporters of the life of faith. We pray for Bill and Mary and the family at their time of loss.”

It is understood police are treating the deaths as a suspected double suicide.