Son escapes action over top conductor's suicide

Keir Starmer said there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Caractacus Downes. but it was not in the public interest to do so.

Sir Edward died with his wife, Lady Joan Downes, at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland on July 10 last year.

The Metropolitan Police launched an inquiry when officers were contacted by solicitors acting on behalf of Mr Downes to report their deaths.

They found evidence Mr Downes booked a hotel room in Switzerland for his parents and accompanied them overseas.

Mr Starmer said these acts would be sufficient to charge him with an offence under the Suicide Act 1961, more commonly known as assisting suicide.

But he added there was further evidence that Mr Downes' parents reached a "voluntary, clear, settled and informed" decision to take their lives. He said that by helping them Mr Downes was "wholly motivated by compassion".

He added: "Although his parents' wills show that Mr Downes stood to gain substantial benefit upon the death of his parents, there is no evidence to indicate that he was motivated by this prospect.

"Other factors against prosecution are that Mr Downes' actions in booking the hotel room can be characterised as of minor assistance and, after reporting the matter to the police, he fully assisted them in their inquiries into the circumstances of his parents' suicide."

Mr Starmer said he took into account new guidelines, which he published in February, that outlined that motive should be at the centre of any decision. Prosecutors were also provided with evidence in relation to his sister Boudicca Downes, but took no further action.

This is the first case where the public interest factors outlined in the new guidelines have been applied.

They state that anyone acting with compassion to help end the life of someone who has decided they cannot go on is unlikely to face criminal charges.

The document was published after a Law Lords ruling in favour of Debbie Purdy, from Bradford, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

She wanted to know whether her husband would be prosecuted for helping her to end her life.

Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in England and Wales, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

In a statement released in July, Caractacus and Boudicca Downes said their parents chose to end their own lives rather than struggle with poor health.

Sir Edward, 85, was almost blind and increasingly deaf, while Lady Downes, 74, is understood to have been suffering from cancer.

The conductor was born in Birmingham in 1924 and as a young man studied and worked with German conductor Hermann Scherchen.

He went on to work with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for 40 years, first as chief guest conductor, then principal conductor and finally conductor emeritus.

Sir Edward joined the Royal Opera House in 1952 and remained a member for 17 years.

Sir Edward became music director of the Australian Opera in 1970 and conducted the first performance in the Sydney Opera House.

He received a CBE in 1986 and was knighted in 1991.