Dad won’t be coming back. I’ve taken him to Dignitas
Woman takes father out of care home on ‘holiday’ then phones staff to say...
A WOMAN told staff at a care home she was taking her elderly father away on holiday but instead travelled to a Swiss suicide clinic to help him end his life.
Sandra Holmes, 66, accompanied John Lenton, 93, who had Parkinson’s disease, to the Dignitas centre last October.
It is understood Mr Lenton had been certified fit to travel by a doctor at his residential home and Mrs Holmes allegedly told staff she wanted to take him abroad for a break.
But six days later she phoned to say her father was not returning – because he had taken his own life at the controversial euthanasia clinic.
The care home, Cartref Bryn yr Eglwys, in Pentrefoelas, north Wales, contacted police and an investigation was launched.
Detectives are thought to have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who will decide whether Mrs Holmes, a former councillor in nearby Llanwrst, should be charged with any offence.
Under UK law, assisting a suicide can lead to up to 14 years in jail.
In reality, courts continue to be lenient on those who travel to Switzerland to help loved ones end their lives.
Of more than 100 files received by the CPS since 2013, only one led to a conviction.
The CPS yesterday said no formal decision on Mrs Holmes’ case had yet been made.
Yesterday Mrs Holmes, who previously ran a television aerials business with her partner, Ted, 76, said she was unable to talk about her father’s suicide until she had heard back from the CPS. She said: ‘This is a private family matter. The file is with the CPS and at the moment the time is not right to discuss it further.’
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Harrison, of North Wales Police, confirmed they were ‘aware’ of Mr Lenton’s death, adding there had been no arrests.
It is thought that as many as ten British citizens a month are now choosing to die at Dignitas and up to 1,000 have taken their own lives, by swallowing a cocktail of barbiturates, since the Swiss clinic was established 20 years ago.
Campaigners want the law on assisted dying relaxed so that relatives who aid terminally ill loved ones at the end can do so without fear of prosecution.
But opponents warn of a slippery slope, claiming pro- euthanasia laws have been abused in other countries. In 2015, MPs voted overwhelmingly against an Assisted Dying Bill by 330 votes to 118 and polls by the British Medical Association and the Royal Colleges revealed that medics too are opposed to legalising euthanasia.
The care home declined to comment.