Law Weblog

No prosecution for assisting suicide

Friday 12 December 2008 at 7:46 am | In News | Post Comment

The Crown Prosecution Service has effectively ruled out the prosecution of relatives who assist the terminally ill to commit suicide after announcing it would take no action against the family of rugby player Daniel James, despite having sufficient evidence to do so.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC stated he would not prosecute the parents and a family friend of the 23-year-old, who was paralysed in a training ground accident, for assisting his death.  Starmer said:

“I have concluded that a prosecution is not needed in the public interest,”

Publishing the reasons for his decision is unprecedented. The case was described by prosecutors yesterday as a landmark and is the first to rule out prosecution on the grounds of public interest alone.

We don’t thing this will be the last word on this topic …