A HUDDERSFIELD man serving a life jail sentence has died in an apparent suicide pact.

Denby Dale armed robber Patrick Kilty and cellmate Shaun Hazelhurst were found dead in the cell they shared in Strangeways jail, Manchester, at about 7am on Saturday.

Both men had ligatures around their necks.

Their deaths are not thought to be suspicious.

Kilty, 32, who had also lived in Newsome and Skelmanthorpe in recent years, was jailed for life by a judge at Leeds Crown Court just before last Christmas.

He was convicted of robbing a taxi controller at gunpoint in Newsome and beating him in an armed robbery in February, 2002.

Hazelhurst's address was given just as Yorkshire, but he did not come from Huddersfield.

He was serving a four-year sentence for robbery, after being jailed at Manchester Crown Court on August 27.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Both men were pronounced dead by medical staff.

"As with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by Prison Ombudsman Stephen Shaw."

The pair shared a prison cell and neither was on suicide watch.

The relatives of the two men have been told of their deaths.

The spokeswoman said there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances in relation to the deaths.

It is not thought a suicide note was found with the bodies.

But police and prison authorities are investigating whether the deaths were a suicide pact.