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New prosecution guidelines suggest that UK prosecutors will no longer pursue murder charges for mercy killing if the suspect was put under “significant emotional duress” by the victim.
There have been several high-profile mercy killings in recent years, including the case of David Hunter, a British national who was jailed in Cyprus for suffocating his terminally ill wife. He has since been released and has called for changes to the law.
Retired baggage handler Graham Mansfield, 74, faces murder charges after slitting the throat of his terminally ill wife, 71-year-old Diane, after she begged him to end her suffering as she endured lung cancer. It had become very difficult for.
He was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter, although he avoided jail with a two-year suspended sentence.
The homicide guidance does not touch on assisted dying or similar scenarios treated separately in the law.
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The change in guidelines would also mean that murder charges would be more likely in failed suicide pacts if a suspect profits from the death or influences the victim not to seek medical treatment. But prosecutors will no longer pursue murder charges if the victim has made a conscious decision that they want to die.
Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill Casey said that if the abuser’s unlawful actions resulted in suicide, they would now face murder or manslaughter charges.
