A feature in the Times T2 today (paywall) about Tony Nicklinson and the issue of mercy killing included this comment:
“In 2010 Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, won the assurance that her husband would not be prosecuted for assisting her suicide if he accompanied her to the Dignitas euthanasia clinic in Switzerland.”
This is not correct. The CPS cannot decide that an individual should not be prosecuted for committing a possibly criminal act before the act in question has been committed.
We have produced guidelines that outline the factors we would take into account when deciding whether it is in the public interest to prosecute an individual in relation to an allegation of assisting or encouraging a suicide. But Ms Purdy has not been granted an assurance as described above because it is not legally possible for us to do so.
