Till death do us part: Married Dutch couple, 70 and 71, who spent their lives together after meeting in pre-school are killed by lethal injection in double-euthanasia

Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen, aged 70 and 71, were married for almost five decades before they ended their lives by lethal injection at the same time in early June.

In the moments before their deaths, the pair were surrounded by friends and family, including their son, who had found his parents’ decision to end their lives hard to take.ve lived my life, I don’t want pain anymore,’ Jan told the BBC. ‘The life we’ve lived, we’re getting old [for it]. We think it has to be stopped.’

The couple enjoyed a lifelong partnership, first meeting in kindergarten. Jan went on to play hockey for the Netherlands’ national youth team before training as a sports coach, while Els became a primary school teacher.

They shared a passion for the sea, and spent much of their lives living on boats.

This shared interest was turned into a career, with the pair buying a cargo boat and setting up a goods transportation company.

They had a son, who went to boarding school in the week while they lived on the water, and who they would take on sailing holidays.

After more than a decade of heavy lifting and hands-on work, Jans’ back pain became serious, and the couple moved back on land into a caravan.

Surgery in 2003 did little to alleviate his pain and he was forced to stop working.