Two arrested over death of assisted dying campaigner
TWO women have been arrested following the death of a campaigner for assisted dying in Switzerland.
Sharon Johnston, 60, a wheelchair-bound former pub landlady, was reported missing earlier this month.
The suspects were both detained at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of assisting or encouraging suicide following Ms Johnston’s death.
They were later released under investigation pending further inquiries.
Police said a 29-year-old woman from London was arrested on February 15. A 69-year-old woman from Cardiff was arrested the following day.
Ms Johnston, of Cardigan, west Wales, had previously spoken about her wish to die after her life was devastated by a fall down stairs in 2018.
Doctors told her she would never walk again and there was no hope of improvement to her quality of life.
Following the accident, she needed carers to help with every aspect of her life. Movement in her hand allowed her to operate a specially adapted wheelchair. Speaking last September, Ms Johnston said: “I go out in the town and I can get about. It’s not that I’m trapped in bed or bedridden. But I don’t want the care.
“Physically, I can’t do a suicide. I can’t take an overdose of medication because it’s all done with the carers in a secure medical box. I don’t want to do a botched suicide.”
Ms Johnston joined right-to-die groups and reportedly planned to spend £14,000 in Switzerland, where doctors are allowed to help some patients to die.
But her condition meant she could not make the trip alone – and anyone helping her was likely to be arrested.
She had said: “I am worried about that, but I know the person who might assist me has got the courage. I know they’re doing it for me and helping me for no gain whatsoever.The law needs to be changed.”
Assisting a suicide is prohibited in England and Wales under the Suicide Act (1961) and anyone convicted could face up to 14 years in jail.
The Daily Express’s Give Us Our Last Rights campaign is backing calls for a change in the law to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults. The Assisted Dying Bill is currently going through Parliament.