Money raised for cancer photo siblings tops £275k Published duration 12 March 2017

image copyright Family handout image caption Julie and Mike Bennet held hands as they said goodbye to each other for the last time

More than £275,000 has been raised for the children of a couple who died of cancer within days of each other.

Mike Bennet, 57, and wife Julie, 50, made headlines when an image was released of them holding hands during their last moments together.

The pair, from Irby in Wirral, died last month.

Their children, Luke, 21, Hannah, 18, and Oliver, 13, told The Times the money raised had given them "financial security".

image copyright Bennet family image caption The couple's three children, pictured here when Oliver was a baby, are being supported by their aunts and uncles

The siblings released the picture of their terminally ill parents, prompting an outpouring of support from friends, relatives and well-wishers.

The trio hope to give some of the money to charity.

Luke told the newspaper: "We said it would be nice - we don't know exactly what the bills are going to be - but it would be nice if we could put a portion of it towards other charitable things.

"Hopefully give back some of the generosity we have received.

"We have said that some of the things that are being planned in our name, maybe give the money towards cancer research."

His sister added: "There's other people that need it more than us."

Family friend Heather Heaton Gallagher previously said the children were being supported by aunts and uncles and the money would be used to help them through college and university.

image copyright Bennet family image caption A friend said the couple were "very loving, very solid together and entwined"

Mr Bennet died on 6 February in Arrowe Park Hospital.

Mrs Bennet, a primary school teacher at Sommerville School, was then moved to St John's Hospice where she died five days later.

She was diagnosed in May last year with cancer which began in the liver and kidneys and then spread to other organs.