Prue’s call after brother ordeal
ASSISTED dying can be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Some 174 Brits were referred to the CPS for encouraging someone to end their life between 2009 and 2022. And there were eight ongoing cases in England and Wales as of March last year.
Assisted dying legislation, meanwhile, is being debated in Scotland. TV’s Prue Leith, 83, is among hundreds backing a change in UK law after her brother
David’s agonising death.
The Great British Bake Off star explored the topic in a
Channel 4 documentary alongside her Tory MP son,
Danny Kruger. Dame Prue has slammed the UK’s assisted dying law as “dreadful”. She said: “I still feel the law as it stands is dreadful for dying people – they often face a horrible death and what choice do they have?
“They can commit suicide, put up with it and just suffer or they can go to Switzerland, which is expensive. The law is not working and we should
change it.”
FAREWELL
GLASS raised and with his nearest and dearest by his side, brave Dan Tuckley has one last night out before ending his life at an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.
Two days later, dressed in his favourite suit, he administered a lethal dose as Frank Sinatra’s My Way played in the background.
It was Dan’s way of leaving this world as cancer tightened its grip, leaving him barely able to eat or drink.
His family backed him – but say he should have been able to end his life in Britain, where assisted dying is illegal.
MISSION
And as they share details of his farewell, they call on the Government to think again about a change in UK laws.
Dan, 46, forked out more than £20,000 in a cloak-and-dagger mission that ended in a sterile white-walled clinic outside Basel.
In a final letter, he wrote: “Weather is lovely here, not like back home – but hey, you don’t come for the weather.”
Among those at his bedside was Sarah, his partner of 20 years and wife for 10. Sarah, 45, said: “Dan should not have had to spend his last few days with so much stress and fear. If he were allowed an assisted death at home, he would have been able to say goodbye to all the people he loved. He should have been allowed to die in his own country, on his own terms.”
Police later visited Sarah at her home in Derby to say they would not pursue Dan’s death – sparing the family a prolonged investigation.
Office manager Dan was diagnosed with renal medullary carcinoma – a rare kidney cancer – last August. It spread quickly and his life expectancy shrank from one year to just weeks.
His sister Kate, 38, said he chose assisted dying after becoming unable to eat or drink without vomiting.
Dan gathered his younger siblings at home and told them he wanted to die.
Kate said: “Our dad died in a hospice from a brain tumour. I think that really stuck with Dan, the image of Dad in a vegetative state, unable to speak.
“This wasn’t up for discussion. He had made the decision and he wanted to ‘go out on his feet’ – and he wanted us and his wife to accompany him. We all said yes without hesitation. It would