5 assisted suicide cases sent to the CPS

FIVE cases involving assisted suicide were referred to the Crown Prosecution Service in the past year, it was revealed yesterday.

It is not known how many involved people who were terminally ill or what evidence police had collected.

But campaigners said the incidents were yet more proof that a safe and regulated system is desperately needed to stop people taking matters into their own hands.

Encouraging or assisting suicide carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

The Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade calls for a change in the law to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults who are of sound mind and with fewer than six months to live.

Suffering

Claire Macdonald, director of campaign group My Death, My Decision, said the law on assisted dying was “an absolute mess, and it needs to be fixed”.

She added: “We don’t know the details of these recent cases, but we do know that it is barbaric to investigate and prosecute people who help their loved ones die – when the loved one is suffering and has come to a clear and settled wish. There’s no public interest in punishing compassion.”

Of the five incidents, two were not proceeded with and one was withdrawn by the police. Two are ongoing.

Eight cases were referred during the year to March 2023, and seven between January 2021 and March 2022.

Nathan Stilwell, of charity Humanists UK, said too many people who had acted out of compassion were being treated like “common criminals”.

He added: “We don’t know the details of these cases but we do know that the current legislation on assisted dying is inadequate and barbaric.

“People who compassionately assist a loved one should be allowed to grieve. They should not be slammed into a jail cell.”