This 'frightening' decision to prosecute suicide-death mother

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC said he was satisfied there was enough evidence against Kay Gilderdale to provide a "realistic prospect of conviction" for attempted murder.

But Bradford-based right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy described the decision to bring Mrs Gilderdale to trial as "frightening".

Mr Starmer said he "fully respected" the not guilty verdict and said Mrs Gilderdale was a "devoted mother who acted out of love and devotion" for her daughter Lynn.

But he said putting the case before a jury was in the public interest because of the evidence and because of the seriousness of the allegation.

Mrs Gilderdale was cleared by a jury at Lewes Crown Court yesterday and given a conditional discharge for assisting suicide, which she admitted.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Bean, praised the jury for returning the verdict and questioned whether the prosecution had been worthwhile.

The 55-year-old mother from Stonegate in East Sussex gave her daughter morphine so she could fulfil her wish to end her "unimaginably wretched" life, the court heard.

Miss Gilderdale, 31, was struck down with ME aged 14 and went from living an active life as a teenager to being bedridden and needing 24-hour care.

But after she became unconscious, Mrs Gilderdale went further by injecting a cocktail of drugs and air into her bloodstream.

It was at this point that her conduct passed from assisting suicide to, potentially, attempted murder, Mr Starmer said.

In a statement, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: "In the case of Mrs Gilderdale, the CPS was satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for attempted murder...

"Mrs Gilderdale's conduct, which began as assisted suicide - namely passing morphine to her daughter so that her daughter could commit suicide - progressed to attempted murder when Mrs Gilderdale herself went on to administer morphine and other drugs and to introduce an air embolism to her daughter after her daughter had lost consciousness.

"Assisted suicide involves assisting the victim to take his or her own life.

"Attempted murder is a step further than assisted suicide because it involves attempting to take the victim's life directly. It is a more serious offence.

"In Mrs Gilderdale's case, the jury rejected the allegation of attempted murder and I fully respect the verdict.

"I also recognise that Mrs Gilderdale was a devoted mother who acted out of love and devotion for her daughter.

"But the fact remains that where the Crown Prosecution Service is satisfied that there is evidence to support a charge of attempted murder, the seriousness of that charge will very often mean that it is in the public interest to bring a case to court so that a jury can consider the evidence and return their verdict, as they did in this case."

Doctors were unable to say if it was the drugs she administered herself or those given to her by her mother that finally ended Miss Gilderdale's life.

She had instructed doctors not to resuscitate her and attempted suicide before, the court heard.

Initially her mother, a former nurse, resisted her request to die, but finally relented when she told her: "I want the pain to go - I don't want to go on."

When the verdict against Mrs Gilderdale was handed down, the court's public gallery erupted in cheers and applause.

The judge told the court she had had cared for her daughter "selflessly and with exemplary devotion".

He said: "I do not normally comment on the verdicts of juries but in this case their decision, if I may say so, shows the common sense, decency and humanity which makes jury trials so important in a case of this kind."

Right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy said a fundamental overhaul of existing assisted suicide laws needed to take place and accused the CPS of ignoring public opinion by pressing ahead with Mrs Gilderdale's trial.

Multiple sclerosis sufferer Ms Purdy also criticised the cost to the public purse of Mrs Gilderdale's trial for attempted murder, despite her pleading guilty to assisting her daughter's suicide.

Ms Purdy, who won a famous landmark ruling at the House of Lords on right-to-die law last year, said: "This case makes me really frightened because I can see no sense in prosecuting a mother who has done nothing but care and love her ill daughter for 17 years.

"Kay is a loving mother who has spent her life trying to improve the quality of life of so many people. I think it should never have come to court and I think it's disgraceful that it did.

"But what it also shows is that there are ways of running round the Director of Public Prosecutions' guidelines. What we need now is a root and branch change to the law and we need to see politicians act.

"If they can find time to discuss their expenses and various other things, then surely they can find time to discuss what is costing thousands of people their lives."

Ms Purdy said there was no logic to prosecuting Mrs Gilderdale for attempted murder when her daughter had made a rational decision over a long period of time to end her own life.