Written evidence submitted by Mandy Appleyard (ADY0094)

My mother, Janet Mary Appleyard, died at the age of 83 at Dignitas in Switzerland

on February 26th 2021, having decided she could not live with the severe mobility and speech disabilities inflicted by a major ischaemic stroke in May 2019. Her decision to die with assistance in Switzerland was a cause of great sadness to us, her two daughters, who had hoped Mum would come to accept her predicament and live in peace with her disabilities. It was entirely in character that an independent, proud and purposeful woman would make the end-of-life decision that she did and, as her loving and devoted daughters, we felt we had no choice but to support her decision.

Within 24 hours of our return to Yorkshire from Switzerland, the police contacted my sister and me and arranged to interview me under caution in March 2021 at my home. I co-operated with their inquiries and was reassured that the CPS would reach a speedy decision on my case which was likely to be no case to answer.

Humberside Police then investigated me for nearly two years in a sluggish and protracted investigation which saw my case bounced between the CPS and the police on several occasions. In that time the police:

Interviewed me for two hours in March 2021.

Scrutinised my and Mum’s bank accounts.

Took witness statements from close friends and family.

Received a short video in which Mum spoke of her decision to die, the evening before she travelled to Switzerland.

Received copies of detailed independent psychiatric and psychology reports conducted by experts who assessed Mum’s capacity and soundness of mind following her decision to die at Dignitas.

Contacted Dignitas in Zurich in search of information about our case.

Can you imagine the stress this caused us during a period of time when, surely, it was our right to have the space and time to grieve the death of our remarkable mother? Instead, as two devoted daughters, we suffered two years of unnecessary, crippling stress, not knowing if what we had always regarded as an act of love in supporting our mother’s decision was likely to put us in prison for 14 years.

We, as ordinary working people, have spent thousands of pounds on legal representation and suffered incalculable distress during a time when we wanted simply to mourn the death of our mother. Instead a protracted legal process has opened awful wounds again and again - and only ended with a cursory email from the CPS last month in which I was advised that it was not in the public interest to prosecute me but that my case could be reopened in the future if new evidence came to light.

My sister and I have often discussed how we can understand why people in our unfortunate position might decide to end their own lives just to bring to a close the anguish caused by being criminally investigated for supporting a loved one.

The current law is not working for individuals or their families, as our case evidences. Mum, who was in intense physical pain and had very little mobility, would not have had the upheaval and expense of travelling to a foreign country to secure the dignified, self-determined end she wanted. She would not have had to spend £25,000 to die (the Dignitas fee, the fee for private psychiatric reports and the cost of private air travel – she was not well enough to travel commercially.) And her daughters would not have endured a brutal, sustained, callous near two-year criminal investigation into why they supported an infirm and struggling old lady in her determined wish to put a dignified end to her suffering – an experience which has had lasting repercussions for me and my sister.

This criminalisation of compassion has a painful and long-lasting impact on loved ones which parliamentarians should hear about.

I am baffled by the police and the CPS and how/who they decide to investigate for assisted suicide. Every week I read books, newspaper and magazine stories, hear radio programmes and watch television documentaries in which people  - wives and husbands, sons and daughters, friends and siblings - speak openly about supporting a loved one through assisted suicide with absolutely no legal consequence.

Recently I watched a documentary HOW TO DIE: SIMON’S CHOICE in which a BBC television crew followed Simon Binner on his journey to an assisted death in Switzerland in 2015. Everyone who supported Simon in his decision - including his wife Debbie who has since published a book on the subject – committed the crime of assisting a suicide by their own admission which was then broadcast to the nation - yet the police turned a blind eye. Then-DPP Alison Saunders did a to-camera interview in the documentary.

Yet my sister and I, two private people devastated by our mother’s illness and death, became the subject of a protracted and painful criminal investigation. What’s the difference in these two cases in terms of the police/ CPS deciding to investigate? And why did it take nearly two years for the authorities to reach a decision when we co-operated fully with the investigation? I do not understand the seemingly random process by which people are or are not investigated for supporting a loved one who has chosen an assisted suicide. Some people, like us, are investigated, most – including the many who tell their stories to the media -  are not.

More than 80% of the British population believes a person with a terminal and painful illness from which they will die should be allowed assistance to die. British law needs to catch up and reflect public opinion on this important matter.

Adults of sound mind, who are either incurably suffering or terminally ill, should have the option of an assisted death. The new law on this should include a robust set of safeguards to satisfy independent medical assessors that someone was fully informed and had made a well-considered and consistent request which was free from coercion. 

In many cases, those who request assisted deaths suffer from terminal illnesses. However, I do not believe that there is a strong moral case to limit this option solely to those with six months left to live. The option of an assisted death should be based on someone’s suffering, and life expectancy in and of itself says nothing about this.

The right to life should include a right to choose whether to carry on living.

Dec 2022