Top family judge took his own life after dementia torture
BRITAIN’S top family court judge “pushed his family away” to make it easier to kill himself in his dementia care home, an inquest has heard.
Sir Nicholas Wall, 71, was found hanged in his room at the Emily Jackson House care home in Sevenoaks, Kent, on Feb 17.
Sir Nicholas, who became president of the Family Division in 2010 and retired on health grounds in December 2012, had “lost the will to live”, the inquest heard.
Sir Nicholas suffered from frontotemporal lobe dementia, a rare neurological disease that had only recently been diagnosed.
An inquest at The Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone heard he had lost hope of his condition improving and had pushed his loved ones away amid his belief that death was imminent.
Sir Nicholas’s body was discovered just before 2am on Feb 17 by a nurse who noticed he was not in bed during a routine check. It later emerged he had left two letters.
Acting Det Sgt Robert Grieve, of Kent Police, said one letter addressed to Sir Nicholas’s wife, Lady Wall, stated that he believed any hope of returning home had gone.
Mr Grieve told the inquest that Sir Nicholas “had lost the will to live” and that Lady Wall “had a life to live”.
“He said his time is over, it’s nobody’s fault and he respects what she has done for him,” he added. In another letter written before he was diagnosed, Sir Nicholas said he had “no hope for the future”, that he valued the help and support of his family, but he believed his condition would deteriorate and he would lose his memory.
Recording a conclusion of suicide, Roger Hatch, north-west Kent senior coroner, said it was clear from the discovery of the note that it was Sir Nicholas’s intention to take his own life.
The Family Law Bar Association described Sir Nicholas as “a compassionate judge who thought and cared deeply about the outcome of his cases”.
In 2011, he called for a “live-in lovers” law which would protect women in long-term relationships from losing their home and income in the event of a break-up.
He also argued that couples should be allowed to divorce without having to blame one or the other, adding that he could “see no good arguments against no-fault divorce”.