Scotsman hotel death couple named

Police have confirmed the identity of the two people found dead a the Scotsman Hotel. Picture: Ian Rutherford

Russian nationals Igor Pavlov, 27, and Daria Kuchuk, 35, were found at a suite on the sixth floor, sparking a full chemical incident response from the emergency services.

The pair are believed to have stayed in the hotel for several days before being found on Thursday at around 12:15pm.

It is understood they were discovered in bed with a container nearby. Sources said the substance was believed to have been taken as homemade cyanide.

Officers named Mr Pavlov and Ms Kuchuk after taking several days to trace their next of kin, who are thought to live overseas.

Police said a multi-agency investigation confirmed that the deaths were chemical-related and a number of items seized from the room are subject to forensic analysis.

However, officers said enquiries are ongoing into the full circumstances surrounding both of the deaths, which continue to be treated as “unexplained”.

It has also been established that the couple took the chemical into the hotel with them prior to their death.

Staff had entered room 601 because it was due to be vacated around lunchtime. The couple are reported to have left two

suicide notes.

It is believed that the pair may have died on Wednesday, as guests on the floors above reported an unpleasant smell.

As The Scotsman revealed on Saturday, officers traced Ms Kuchuk to a one-bedroom flat on World’s End Close off the Royal Mile, which is about 400 yards from the hotel.

Forensics officers confirmed that no trace of the chemical involved in their deaths had been found at the property.

Ms Kuchuk’s flat is located just past a small courtyard to the rear of the World’s End pub and at the end of a narrow alleyway.

It is thought that Mr Pavlov lived elsewhere, although he was often seen visiting. It is also not known where Ms Kuchuk worked.

However, neighbours described her as a professional-looking woman with dark, shoulder-length hair.

“She had been here a couple for years,” a neighbour who lives in the same tenement building said earlier this week.

“None of us in this close have got to know each other very well. People come and go. You’d say ‘hello’, but she was very discreet, and whenever you saw her, she soon nipped into her flat.”

In the days before she was last seen, it appeared that Ms Kuchuk had been moving out of the property.

Residents saw her with a man apparently taking furniture from the flat, and a shopkeeper said the couple had loaded up a van on the Royal Mile.

Police on Friday searched the flat and removed some items in evidence bags. They also flung the windows open, according to neighbours, because of concerns there may be gas inside.

During the emergency response, guests were evacuated from several floors of the hotel, with many left waiting outside for more than seven hours.

Fire crews wearing protective chemical-proof suits were understood to have been checking if there was a risk to the public as a result of the chemicals found in the room, before giving the all clear.