The deaths of a former Haworth man and his wife, whose charred bodies were found in their South African home, remains a mystery.

Despite the re-opening of the case last autumn - which involved exhuming the bodies of Robert and Joyce Green - police are unable to say exactly how they met their deaths in their burned-out house.

But his sister-in-law in Keighley suspects their deaths could have been a suicide pact.

Police at first believed Mr Green - who trained as a blacksmith in Keighley - and his wife were murdered last April by two Mozambique-born brothers.

The two men have now been released after detectives were unable to link stolen clothes found among the brothers' possessions with those which were owned by Mr Green.

Detectives were given permission to exhume the bodies of the 65 year-old couple from Johannesburg last autumn.

But according to information received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office there was still no evidence of foul play.

A spokesman said today: "We understand there was no robbery or murder although we have had no formal information from the police."

Linda Green, of Wardle Crescent, Keighley, said that she and her husband Jack, Mr Green's brother, had received information from a relative also saying the couple had not been the victims of robbery.

"It looks like they committed suicide," she said. "If it wasn't robbery and murder then that is the only other conclusion.

"She was lying straight out on the bed and he was found laying curled up in the corner. She had no smoke in her lungs, he did.

"I don't think for a minute he would have hurt her. It could have been a suicide pact. I can't imagine him living without her. She was his life and he was hers. They were very very close.

"I think it still remains a mystery."

Mr Green, who emigrated 40 years ago, was brought up in Haworth and worked as an apprentice blacksmith in Keighley before doing national service in Cyprus and later emigrating.

The couple had one son, Christopher, who died more than 15 years ago.