'I took my mum to Dignitas to end her suffering - then I was hounded by police'

13 December 2023 , 13:16

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Janet Appleyard suffered a debilitating stroke

A woman who took her unwell mum to Dignitas in Switzerland so that she could end her life found herself at the centre of a police investigation.

Mandy Appleyard said taking her mother Janet to Zurich for the day of her death was "a day of fathomless sadness, but, if all went to plan, one which would end her suffering". As she took her last breath, Janet became one of nearly 650 British citizens who have travelled to Switzerland for assisted suicide since 2002.

Mandy’s mum was almost entirely unable to move, and speak and relied on others for "everything" after a debilitating stroke. In a heartbreaking anecdote, Mandy writes that her mum even asked if she would "smother" her with a pillow to end her suffering.

After examinations of her medical records and two "long" interviews with a Swiss doctor, Janet swallowed a deadly liquid designed to stop her heart and Many and her sister returned to Britain, Mail Online reports. Two weeks later she was being interviewed by Humberside Police in what she said was a "beyond terrifying" ordeal.

Mandy Appleyard travelled to the Dignitas Clinic in Switzerland for her mother's assisted suicide

Every eight days a Briton travels to Dignitas for help to die, but those who go with their loved ones and are present during the process face the risk of prosecution and up to 14 years in prison when they return to the UK. This is because "assisting or encouraging" another person’s suicide is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is no specific offence of assisting or encouraging suicide in Scotland.

Assisted dying volunteer would 'do it again' after going with woman to end life

Mandy's police enquiry continued for more than a year before the Crown Prosecution Service decided it was "not in the public interest to prosecute" her. She branded the process "torture" and called for the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK. According to the latest YouGov data, 69 per cent of Brits back doctor-assisted suicide for patients suffering from terminal illness, whereas only 12 per cent disagree with it.

Mandy and her mother Janet before the stroke

Mandy wrote of her mums health decline: "Arriving at her hospital bedside, seeing her pain, distress and confusion, was the worst moment of my life. Within two days, she had mimed slitting her throat and firing a gun at her head: a grim gesture to inform my sister and me, her only children, that she wished to die.

"Mum spent three months in hospital, undergoing physiotherapy and speech therapy. When her speech improved, she said she wanted to 'die in Switzerland'. She had seen documentaries about assisted dying and, years earlier, said that was the end she would want if her health failed in any catastrophic way."

Rachel Hagan