British pair's deaths in Wellington treated as murder-suicide — police

The deaths of a British couple found dead at a home in the Wellington suburb of Roseneath are being treated as a murder-suicide, police confirmed this evening.

Their bodies were found after a concerned family member asked police to carry out a welfare check at the Palliser Rd property around 10.25pm on Monday.

"Police are providing support to the family at the centre of this tragic event," police said.

"The family have requested privacy as they grieve their loss."

A neighbour earlier told RNZ the couple had fallen in love with the country and had plans to make their stay permanent.

"They were... in the next phase of their life, I guess, and ready to kind of set themselves up for the next part of their chapter, which is... truly sad."

Anyone with information or residential CCTV capturing movements in the area have been asked to contact police on 105.

Post-mortems were completed today.

The case would be referred to the coroner.