Posts Tagged ‘Justice Bean’
Mother aided her daughter’s suicide – cleared of murder charge
Kay Gilderdale and her daughter, Lynn
A judge made the rare step of attacking the Crown Prosecution Service…for pursuing a case of attempted murder against a loving mother who helped her seriously ill daughter to die.
Stoking the debate over mercy killings, he praised the common sense, decency and humanity of the jury at Lewes crown court, who took just two hours to clear Kay Gilderdale over the death of 31-year-old Lynn.
Kay Gilderdale administered a cocktail of lethal drugs to end Lynn’s life in December 2008 after her daughter called her for help when her own attempts at suicide failed…
At Lewes today Mr Justice Bean, the Gilderdale trial judge, openly challenged prosecutors, demanding to know who had made the decision to pursue the case.
“Are you in a position to tell me why it was thought to be in the public interest to proceed with the prosecution of attempted murder rather than accepting the plea of assisted suicide?” he asked the prosecutor, Sally Howes QC.
He said interim guidelines on assisted suicide, drawn up last November by the director of public prosecutions to reassure relatives they would not be prosecuted for helping a loved one die, should have applied in the case.
Turning to the jury he said: “I do not normally comment on the verdicts of juries but in this case their decision … shows that common sense, decency and humanity which makes jury trials so important in a case of this kind.”
I have nothing polite to say about the officials who decided to prosecute for murder. I hope their political careers are over.
Kay Gilderdale, Justice Bean, the members of the jury gathered to rule on her aid to her daughter – obviously – were the only human beings in the courtroom. They deserve all the praise in the world.
