AS detectives continued questioning three suspects in an Ipswich double murder probe, the chaotic lifestyle of one of the deceased emerged today.

Colin Adwent

AS detectives continued questioning three suspects in an Ipswich double murder probe, the chaotic lifestyle of one of the deceased emerged today.

Des Thorpe's unquenchable craving for alcohol destroyed his life, said a friend who saw him just hours before his death.

The 43-year-old's body has yet to be formally identified, but police believe he is the man found dead in a flat at Limerick Close, Ipswich, around 4am on Monday.

Rosalyn Hunt, 41, was found dead in her flat in Victoria Street, Ipswich, on Sunday morning. It is thought she had been dead for some time.

Philip Wood, of Limerick Close was a friend of Mr Thorpe's and said alcoholism had ruined him.

The last time he saw Mr Thorpe was around eight hours before he died when he went to a flat over the road occupied by Roy Williamson, who is not one of the people being held by police.

Two other people, a girl and a man, were also there at the time along with Mr Thorpe.

Mr Wood said: “It has not hit home yet. It is a sad end.

“Des was incapable of looking after himself while he was drunk.

“He was in a drunken stupor round Roy's. He was just laying on the sofa rambling. He was delirious.”

Mr Thorpe had been drinking cider but the people in the flat got him to stop, however he then began drinking super strength beer.

Mr Wood, 56, said he believed Mr Thorpe had been a paramedic until he had an accident when he fell from a height which caused him a brain injury.

A pattern of heavy drinking set in which although, Mr Thorpe had tried to stop for a couple of months earlier this year, continued up to his death.

Mr Wood said: “He relapsed into drinking again. He had been off the drink for a few months and went back on it again and it ruined him. That was the kind of bloke he was.

“He was just mixed up with the wrong crowd.”

Mr Wood said the father-of-three had split up with his wife, who is believed to live in east Ipswich, and was going through a divorce.

He had previously lived in Kingston Road, Ipswich and at a flat in Quill Court in Elm Street in the town centre.

Residents believed Mr Thorpe had been staying at Limerick Close for a few days up to his death and had previously been seen there over the past year.

On one occasion one neighbour said he had seen him sleeping on the grass in the pouring rain in front of the flat where he died.