Prosecution ruled out over case of 91-year-old novelist's suicide

Police launched an investigation after Jane Hodge, 91, died at her home in Lewes, East Sussex, on June 17 last year.

Her death was referred to the coroner as a suicide but a file of evidence was submitted to the CPS to consider whether any of the four people who were with her when she died had assisted her in ending her life.

However Michael Jennings, reviewing lawyer for the CPS special crime division, who looked at the case, said he had been satisfied Mrs Hodge had acted independently.

The decision not to bring charges follows the case of Kay Gilderdale, who was cleared of attempting to murder her 31-year-old daughter Lynn after pleading guilty to assisting her suicide.

The case prompted criticism from some quarters about the public interest in prosecuting Mrs Gilderdale, 55, from Stonegate, near Heathfield, East Sussex.

It also led to a debate over the rights and wrongs of "mercy killings" and the law surrounding assisting suicide.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, issued public guidelines last year setting out when prosecutions were likely to be brought in such cases.

His hand was forced by a Law Lords ruling in the case of Debbie Purdy, a terminally-ill woman from Bradford, who wanted to ensure her partner would not face prosecution if he helped her die.

Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence.