Assisted dying campaigner calls law 'barbaric'

A Staffordshire woman has said it is "barbaric" and "outdated" that those with a terminal illness are not legally able to end their life, ahead of a debate in parliament on the issue.

Joy Munns' mother Mavis Eccleston was cleared of murder in 2019 after she and her husband both tried to take their own lives following his terminal bowel cancer diagnosis.

A parliamentary debate on assisted dying is due to take place later, after a petition secured more than 200,000 signatures in favour of a law change.

But one opponent, the Bishop of Worcester, said "there is more at stake here than individuals and their freedom".

Speaking to BBC WM, Ms Munns said: "My dad did not have a choice, the only choice he had was to break the law and commit suicide.

"It is just a barbaric, outdated law that needs to be changed."

Discussing what she and her family went through when her father Dennis was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she said: "I am still traumatised six years on about what happened with my mum and dad.

"I would not wish it on my worst enemy, I really would not."

'Awful lot at stake'

The Right Reverend John Inge said he had "every sympathy" with those who have to watch their loved ones suffer, having seen his own wife die with cancer.

But, speaking to BBC Hereford & Worcester, he argued: "My problem is the implications this has for wider society, and in particular, for the disabled and elderly people.

"It would be very easy for elderly people... to think they are a burden on society and really that they ought to go down this route."

He added: "I really understand those who find watching their loved ones suffer unbearable, but I think there is an awful lot more at stake here which we need to look at carefully before we make such a decision."

Ms Munns insisted she and fellow campaigners were only calling for assisted dying to be brought in for those with terminal illnesses.

She said: "We are not talking about the disabled, we are not talking about if someone is old, we are talking about people who have got a death sentence.

"And those are the only people who will be put forward for this."