A mother who killed her severely disabled son with a heroin injection, claiming it was an act of love, has been found guilty of murder. Frances Inglis, 57, was convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering 22-year-old Tom Inglis, who was left brain-damaged after a road accident in 2007. She was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of nine years.
The jury rejected her defence that she acted out of compassion, not malice. Judge Brian Barker told her: 'You cannot take the law into your own hands and you cannot take away life, however compelling you think the reason.' He described her actions as 'a calculated and consistent course of criminal conduct.'
Inglis had maintained throughout the trial that she believed her son was trapped in a 'living hell' and that she was releasing him. She said she researched his condition online and decided heroin would provide a 'painless, peaceful death.' She bought the drug from dealers near a station and needle exchange, and stole syringes from a hospital.
The court heard that Tom Inglis had been injured in a fight and then fell from a moving ambulance, sustaining serious head injuries. He was left unable to speak or communicate beyond squeezing his mother's hand, and required 24-hour care. Inglis said she could not bear the thought of him dying slowly from starvation or dehydration, which she was told was the only legal option.
During the trial, Inglis said: 'I don't see it as killing or murder. The definition of murder is to take someone's life with malice in your heart. I did it with love in my heart, for Tom.' As the verdict was read, family members shouted 'shame on you' and were escorted from the public gallery.
