A funeral for the couple found dead after a hot tub accident at a Spanish holiday villa heard their two children ‘were at the heart of their lives’.

Thomasina Tobin, 51, and her husband Patrick ‘Paddy’ Tobin, 48, died at the villa they were renting with their teenage children in the resort of Cullera near Valencia on August 24.

Local reports said postmortem examinations showed the couple both suffered fatal heart stoppages after becoming trapped in the jacuzzi.

But mystery still surrounds the precise cause, with theories including physical exhaustion from trying to get out and one being electrocuted while trying to save the other.

Hundreds packed into Our Lady of Knock Church in Ballintra, Co Monaghan, on Friday to pay their final respects to the couple.

Rev Canon Patrick McGinn said Mr Tobin was a ‘devoted father’ and described his wife as a ‘loving and lovely mum’.

‘They created a lovely home together in Greenwich,’ added. ‘Their children were the most important part of their lives.’

Ms Tobin, a chartered quantity surveyor and school governor, was a ‘very kind person’ who ‘knew the people who had helped her along the way’ and ‘passed this kindness on to other people’.

New Zealand-born Mr Tobin, whose parents watched on webcam, was ‘always on the go’ from the day he started walking, the congregation heard.

‘He loved sport growing up. He tried everything. Rugby, hockey, cricket, water polo, football, skiing and surfing. I get tired even mentioning all those things,’ Canon McGinn said.

‘Patrick and Thomasina built a wonderful life in Greenwich with Rhea and Seamus. Those children were the absolute centre of his life.

‘Paddy and Thomasina welcomed everybody into their home on family visits. They were so generous in every way.’

Canon McGinn told the mourners it was difficult to know what to say to the bereaved families, saying: ‘All we can do is huddle and grieve around the remains of shattered dreams and what might have been.

He added ‘we do have many questions, but we don’t really have many answers as to the whys of life’.

Among the offertory gifts were a photo of the couple with their children, representing ‘the family that Paddy and Thomasina created together and how [the children] were at the heart of their lives’.

Other items included a sacred Pounamu greenstone from New Zealand which embodies strength, spirit and a connection between people and the land, and a hard hat worn by Mrs Tobin on construction sites in London.

Her brother, John McArdle, thanked the clergy and the congregation for their support following the double tragedy.

The family asked for donations to be made to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust, which helps families bring home the bodies of loved ones who have died abroad.

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