'Mercy killing' widower goes free on appeal

George Webb, 73, from Sheffield, was cleared in December of murdering his wife Beryl, but found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

At the Court of Appeal yesterday, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting in London with Mr Justice Eady and Mr Justice Simon, allowed his appeal against the sentence.

The judges replaced the two-year prison term imposed at Sheffield Crown Court with a suspended 12-month sentence.

Lord Judge, who described it as a "tragic case", said the court did not believe that the "principle of the sanctity of human life would be undermined" by the reduction in Webb's sentence.

He added that it would mean "that this lonely old man may receive the help that he will need to come to terms with the disaster that has overtaken him".

Webb, who has spent 90 days in custody, was not present for yesterday's ruling.

Mrs Webb, 75, had a number of ailments – some real and some imagined – and had considered suicide for years, Sheffield Crown Court heard. She had also begged her husband to help her die.

Last May she attempted to kill herself with 34 tablets of the anti-anxiety drug Lorezepam, washed down with brandy and fizzy orange juice. When Webb feared this had not worked, he smothered his sleeping wife with a plastic bag and a towel.

Lord Judge said the jury concluded that Webb – described as being of previous good character and with an "impeccable" work record – suffered from diminished responsibility at the time of the killing. He had developed a psychiatric condition with one of its prominent features being depression.

The judge said: "It is clear from the evidence that the mental turmoil engendered by the impossible situation in which he had found himself must have been dreadful. Cases of this kind are always unique. Each of them has its own individual and singular characteristics."

The argument put forward on Webb's behalf at the appeal was that, though trial judge Mr Justice McCombe, had been careful in his approach to the case "the end result was a sentence that was too long."

Lord Judge said: "We recognise, as the judge was at pains to underline, that this is not a case of assisted suicide. It is a case of manslaughter. Nevertheless, as it seems to us, there are features of this case which bring it close to an assisted suicide."

Mrs Webb had "reached a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision" to end her life, said Lord Judge.

The couple had become increasingly isolated and lived together in their "own bubble", he said, and added: "In acting as he did, Mr Webb was motivated not so much by compassion for her, but by a desire to enable her to achieve what she had decided she wanted to do.

"He had in the past tried to dissuade her from taking any action that might end her own life and what he did amounted to reluctant assistance in the light of her determined wishes."

"On any view, this was an extraordinarily difficult sentencing decision. The killing of Mrs Webb was, and will always will be, the result of an unlawful act, but on the basis of diminished responsibility."