Assisted suicide demand goes to the appeal court

A terminally ill man challenging the law on assisted suicide is taking his case to the Court of Appeal today.

Noel Conway, 68, a retired lecturer from Shrewsbury, who has motor neurone disease, wants the right to a “peaceful and dignified” death with help from medical professionals.

Current legislation means that under the 1961 Suicide Act, anyone who assisted Mr Conway to die would be liable to up to 14 years in prison.

His lawyers have proposed that assisted dying should be available to people aged 18 and above, who were of sound mind, with less than six months to live, and that each case should be reviewed by a High Court judge.