IT is still unknown how a couple died at their Kenyan holiday home five years on.

A documentary inquest into the deaths of Leigh couple Norman Joel, 70, and Rita Joel, 67, recorded an open verdict when it was held on Wednesday, July 2.

When their semi-naked bodies were found dumped 20 miles inland from their house in the coastal city of Mombassa in October 2009, police first thought they had been murdered.

But three men charged with their murder were acquitted at a High Court in the city in May, the BBC has reported.

The couple, who lived in Norfolk Avenue, Leigh and had minor disabilities, were thought to have been stabbed a number of times, but Essex coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said post-mortem examination evidence was inconclusive.