Prosecutors are choosing to take no action in cases of assisted suicide, The Times has learnt.
Since the introduction of new guidelines 18 months ago at least 30 people suspected of helping a friend or relative to commit suicide have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, but none has been prosecuted.
Although the CPS insists that assisted suicide remains illegal, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, the former Lord Chancellor who is chairing a commission into assisted suicide, welcomed the figures as evidence of a significant change in approach by the prosecuting authorities.
The numbers are the first evidence that the new guidelines are working, and that people who act with compassion will not be put on trial.
Lord Falconer welcomed the figures and the fresh application of the law, adding: “But it is right to say that change had already occurred before the publication of the guidelines. What the guidelines did was in effect to codify a change already taking place.”
Keir Starmer, QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, published the guidelines in February last year, making clear that prosecutions are unlikely where someone is helped to die by a relative, if their wishes to die are clear and not subject to influence.
He insisted that assisted suicide remained illegal. But the eight-page guidance indicates that if someone acts from compassion to help another who had a “clear, settled and informed wish to die”, a prosecution is unlikely.
The DPP issued the guidelines after a ruling by the law lords in the case brought by Debbie Purdy. The multiple-sclerosis sufferer wanted guidance from the DPP on whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her to end her life.
Mr Starmer first issued interim guidance in September 2009 and final guidance in February 2010. In the year April 2010-11 the police referred 18 cases to the CPS. Two are still under review, three were withdrawn by police and 13 led to no further action.
Since April another seven cases have been referred to the CPS. One has been withdrawn and six are under review.
The DPP’s officials believe that the figures are an increase on the number of previous cases, although statistics have been collected only since 2009, when all such cases had to be referred to a central CPS unit.
In that year, when interim guidelines took effect, 19 cases were referred. One was withdrawn by the police and no action was taken in any of the others.
A CPS spokesman insisted that the figures did not indicate any weakening of the law or a blanket “no-prosecution” policy. “The law has not been changed or weakened,” he said. “Assisting or encouraging suicide remains a criminal offence. Our policy provides a clear framework for prosecutors to decide which cases should proceed to court and which should not.
“It does not open the door for euthanasia to override the will of Parliament.”
The spokesman added: “Whether or not, and to what extent, someone acted out of compassion is only one of several factors prosecutors must assess and they do so by considering all of the facts of the case following a thorough investigation.”
Lord Falconer, who has tried unsuccessfully to promote a change in the law to allow assisted suicide, added that his commission — to which the DPP has given evidence — would report by the end of this year. “There is a need to identify whether there is a series of measures for change around which a consensus could develop.
“It is clear that society’s views, expectations and experience in connnection with the process of dying have changed significantly since the current law was changed 50 years ago.”
The DPP has resisted pressure to issue further guidelines on cases, for instance, where someone wants to die but is physically unable to take the final steps to end his or her life.
In one such case, Tony Nicklinson, a former rugby player and corporate manager from Melksham in Wiltshire, suffered a stroke six years ago that left him locked inside his body.
In a similar case that came to light last month, a 46-year-old man known only as Martin wants to die after a stroke left him almost completely paralysed. He wants help to end his life but says that no one is willing to assist him. His wife is not prepared to bring about this death.
He is seeking a ruling that he has the right to help from a paid professional to assist his death. If successful, it would mean that people like him would no longer have to travel abroad to die.
At the time the DPP issued the new guidelines, he said that the debate about “mercy killing” made it important to draw the line between those who helped a friend or relative close to them to kill themselves and suspects who had ended someone else’s life.
