Assisted dying: Mum admits helping end life of terminally ill son

BBC Radio Oxford asked the 77-year-old if she believed her son knew she was intending to end his life.

She replied: “I feel very strongly that at the point of Hamish telling me he was in pain, and asking me if I could remove his pain, he knew, he knew somewhere what was going to happen.

“But I cannot obviously tell you why or how, but I was his mother, he loved his mother, and I totally loved him, and I was not going to let him suffer, and I feel he really knew where he was going.”

She continued: “It was the right thing to do. My son was facing the most horrendous suffering and intense pain, I was not going to allow him to go through that.”

Asked if she understood she was potentially admitting to manslaughter or murder, she replied: “Yes.”

“If they come 43 years after I have allowed Hamish to die peacefully, then I would have to face the consequences. But they would have to be quick, because I’m dying too,” she added.