Suicide wife’s last moments recorded on film for police

Michael Batemen broke down yesterday as his wife’s final moments were recounted before a coroner, who also watched the recording.

Mr Bateman had helped his wife Margaret fulfil her wish to end her life after she had suffered in agony for years from a mystery illness. After carrying out research on the internet, he acquired helium gas bottles and created a system involving a pipe, a bag and a lever which allowed his wife to take her own life at their home in Birstall, near Bradford.

Her final moments were recorded on a camcorder and the tape handed to police.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided he should not be prosecuted, saying Mrs Batemen had a clear and settled wish to commit suicide and it was clear her husband was motivated by compassion.

Yesterday an inquest was told she had suffered pain for four decades and her agony worsened in the months leading up to her death in October 2009. She had been prescribed many drugs but her family believed doctors had not got to the bottom of her condition.

Her son, Richard, said his mother had been in pain for as long as he could remember and there had been a failure to diagnose what was wrong. His mother had become suicidal and had pleaded with her husband to “end it”.

Deputy coroner Professor Paul Marks said Mrs Bateman had a long history of chronic pain which was due to a “poorly understood condition”, fibromyalgia, and treatment had proved difficult.

Mrs Bateman had expressed a wish to take her own life on a number of occasions and had been aided and abetted, he said.

Prof Marks, who recorded that Mrs Bateman killed herself, said the helium gas had ensured she had not suffered distress in her finals moments which he said may offer a “crumb of comfort to her family at this difficult time”.

He added: “I have seen the video of this lady’s final minutes and it is some of the most distressing footage I have ever seen.”

Mr Bateman declined to comment after the inquest but in 2009 he told the Yorkshire Post he and his wife had considered travelling to the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas. He described her as a “brave and courageous woman who lived in agony for many years”.