Ceiling crashes on audience at West End theatre
THIS poignant photograph shows the heartbreaking moment a couple who entered into a suicide pact say their final goodbyes after 60 years.
Within 20 minutes of the picture being taken, Dennis Eccleston, 81, had died.
But his wife Mavis, 80, survived and the following day was arrested. She was later held in police cells for 30 hours before being charged with his murder.
The couple had decided they could not live without each other after Dennis was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
They took a cocktail of prescription drugs at their home near Cannock, Staffs, leaving a suicide note for their three children. But they were still alive when they were found.
At Stafford Hospital, doctors battled to save Mavis, but respected the “do not resuscitate” wishes of gravely-ill Dennis.
Realising he was close to death, nurses placed the two beds together in a private room so they could be together.
Daughter Joy Munns, who took the picture in February last year, said: “To us it’s just beautiful. The nurses pushed the beds together and I said, ‘The end of a
WEDDING Couple in 1959
PART of the ceiling of a leading West End theatre last night collapsed during a show.
The audience had been watching Arthur Miller’s classic drama Death of a Salesman and screamed as plaster rained down on them.
The Piccadilly Theatre in Soho 60-year love affair’. I took the photo with tears in my eyes. Mum was asleep, but woke soon after. She was talking to Dad about their first kiss all those years ago. “When she was chatting, a tear rolled down Dad’s cheek, so we think he could hear her. I told him, ‘It’s OK, Dad, I’m going to look after Mum’.”
Mavis stood trial in September, accused of giving Dennis a lethal dose of medicine without his knowledge, but she was cleared. Joy posted the photo of her parents online to pressure the Government into changing the law on assisted dying. Joy, from Derby, said: “As long as there are proper safeguards
Mavis arriving at court was evacuated and police said “a few” people suffered minor injuries.
Journalist Martin George, 41, who was in the Grand Circle, said: “About 10 minutes into the performance you could hear this slight dripping.
“People were looking around, but the play carried on. The sound
Dennis and Mavis made suicide pact in place, then I believe assisted suicide should be legalised.
“Surely we should have the right to decide how we want to end our lives. Dad didn’t want to go into a hospice and Mum didn’t want to live without my dad.
“If the law was different he could have died at home, with a Wolves match on in the background, his family all there.
“Instead, this elderly couple had to go through it all themselves, in the middle of the night, scared and alone. That’s the most heartbreaking thing.”
The ordeal of the trial is over, but it has left its scars. Joy said: “Mum is fine now but she’s still worried she will have to go back to prison at some point. I don’t think she realises it’s finally over.”
A poll in March found that 84% of people support assisted dying. eventually got so loud we started to leave. We were wondering what was going to happen.
“Then this huge chunk of ceiling, about three to four metres across, crashed down. There were people screaming, everyone got up and streamed down the stairs.” Fire engines and ambulances rushed to the scene at around 8pm and roads were closed. The Met tweeted that everyone was safely evacuated.
In 2013, 80 people were injured – seven seriously – after part of the ceiling of the West End Apollo theatre collapsed.