An 80-year-old woman who gave her terminally ill husband a fatal dose of medicine in a suicide pact has been cleared of murder, reigniting calls for a change in the law on assisted dying. Mavis Eccleston and her 81-year-old husband, Dennis, formed a pact to end their lives together at their home in Huntington, near Cannock, Staffordshire, in February last year.
Stafford Crown Court heard that Mavis gave Dennis the medicine, which he took himself. She kissed him and pulled a cover over him, and he kissed her hand, saying 'Good night darling' as she went to lie down on a sofa. The couple, married for 60 years, had written a note to their children explaining their decision. Dennis was suffering from advanced bowel cancer and had talked of ending his life.
They were found at home and taken to hospital, where Mavis, who survived, was given an antidote. In the final hours of Dennis's life, hospital staff pulled their beds together, and they held hands as he died. The prosecution had claimed Mavis told hospital staff her husband did not know the medicine would end his life, a claim she denied. The jury took four hours to return not guilty verdicts on charges of murder and manslaughter.
After the verdicts, the couple's daughter Joy Munns, 54, called for reform of the law on assisted dying. 'We do not believe this needed to happen. If there had been an assisted dying law in the UK, our dad would have been able to have the choice to end his suffering with medical support, and with his loved ones around him,' she said. Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, added: 'Compassion should not be a crime, but under the UK's broken laws, it is.'
