Jury's 'decency' praised after mother cleared of murder bid

A judge hailed the "common sense, decency and humanity" in the jury trial system after Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale was acquitted of trying to kill her 31-year-old daughter, who suffered from ME, following less than two hours' deliberation.

Mrs Gilderdale, 55, known as Kay, was hugged by family and friends after being given a 12-month conditional discharge for assisting the suicide of her daughter Lynn at their home in Stonegate, near Heathfield, East Sussex.

The public gallery at Lewes Crown Court erupted in cheers and applause before the judge told her she had cared for Lynn "selflessly and with exemplary devotion".

Judge Mr Justice Bean 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.

"There is no dispute that you were a caring and loving mother and that you considered that you were acting in the best interests of your daughter.

"You had cared for her selflessly and with exemplary devotion for 17 years and never tired of that burden."

Jurors heard that Gilderdale crushed up pills and fed them through her daughter's nasal tube, handed her morphine and injected three syringes of air into her vein after she made a failed suicide bid.

Gilderdale had initially tried to stop her daughter ending her life following a 17-year battle with the chronic fatigue illness but backed down after she said: "I want the pain to go."

Miss Gilderdale, a once active, sporty and musical girl, led an "unimaginably wretched" life in her later years. She was paralysed from the waist down, unable to speak, eat or drink and was fed through a tube.

Communication to her parents, who were divorced but remained supportive of her, was through a form of sign language they devised themselves.

She was bed-bound, socially isolated, unable to sit up and developed suicidal thoughts, which she published on an online forum. She had attempted suicide in the past, had drafted a "living will", placed a Do Not Resuscitate note on her medical records and considered ending her life at Dignitas, the Swiss-based assisted suicide clinic.

In the early hours of December 3, 2008, she took an overdose of morphine by injecting the pain-relieving medicine directly into her vein, according to Gilderdale's own account to the family GP, Dr Jane Woodgate, on the morning of the death.

When she realised that the dosage was not high enough, she called out to her mother, who spent around an hour trying to persuade her to live.

But after telling her mother that she wanted the "pain to go" and that she did not want to go on, Gilderdale set about, over the course of 30 hours, helping her end her life.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was morphine toxicity.

Miss Gilderdale had attempted to kill herself before in mid-2007 with a morphine overdose, but her father walked into her bedroom to find her sleepy.

Prosecutors were questioned by the judge over whether it was in the public interest to pursue the case for attempted murder when Gilderdale had already admitted aiding and abetting suicide.

Sally Howes QC said the case was decided at the "highest level". "There was no submission of no case to answer and the matter went to the jury."

The decision to prosecute Gilderdale was taken before legal clarifications were made in England making it easier for those helping a relative end their life to know if they would face prosecution, following a campaign by Yorkshire multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy.

Defence counsel John Price QC had asked the judge to consider an absolute discharge based on the guidelines by the Director of Public Prosecutions.