Assisted suicide husband shown mercy by judge » Communities » 24dash.com

A devoted husband who helped his wife commit suicide was picking up the pieces of his life tonight after being shown mercy by a judge.

David March, 58, walked free from the Old Bailey after receiving a nine month suspended sentence for assisting her death.

Gillian March, 59, took pills and tied a plastic bag over her head in September, last year, at the couple's home in Caterham, Surrey.

The multiple sclerosis sufferer wanted to die by her own hand before she became completely paralysed by the progressively debilitating disease.

The court heard she wanted to free her husband in an act of love so he could find a someone else to share his life before he was too old.

After being diagnosed with MS in 1984, she had made two unsuccessful suicide attempts but was saved by her husband.

In a diary started in 1992 and dedicated to her husband, Mrs March wrote:

"You know my feelings of wanting to opt out. It is the only way I can cope, having an escape route if things get too bad."

Richard Whittam, prosecuting, said: "She made the observation that she did not want to die when she was 55/60 and leave her husband at an age when he was too old to find someone else."

After her second failed attempt on her life in June, last year, she wrote to her husband: "Enough is enough, 20 years is enough and 20 years is enough for you. You have a life sentence."

Mr Whittam added: "She made it clear the love she had for him."

March was charged with murder following his wife's death after he told police he had tightened a string around a plastic bag she had placed on her head.

The court heard how he had returned home for lunch and found her in a wheelchair. She died 30 minutes later.

But the murder charge was dropped after a pathologist said it was not possible to say that Mrs March would have lived if the string had not been tightened.

Mr Whittam said March had told police after his arrest: "She was a fantastic girl and I loved her to bits."

His plea to aiding and abetting suicide was accepted after considering the evidence "not because this was what has sometimes been described as a mercy killing".

The couple had married in 1979 and had no children. Within three years of Mrs March, a legal secretary, becoming ill she was confined to a wheelchair.

March gave up his job in advertising to work as a landscape gardener in order to care for her.

Friends were full of praise for the selfless way in which he looked after all her needs. One friend said he was "Gillian's rock".

Mr Whittam said: "Despite her physical disability, she remained an intelligent and strong-willed woman."

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Brian Barker, said he was suspending the sentence for a year because of the exceptional circumstances of the case.

The judge told March: "It is quite clear she was planning an escape route.

"She was clearly deteriorating and was particularly concerned about your position.

"You knew she would continue her attempts until she was successful.

"Each attempt was weakening her body and you were concerned that she might have suffered brain damage.

"Your wife was determined to control and then take her own life when she felt she had become too much of a burden.

"You felt you had little choice but to respect her will.

"You were a husband who not only had a deep love for his wife but who displayed a selfless devotion to her."

But he added: "Society may understand your acts but cannot condone them."

The judge placed a condition on the suspended sentence that March do 50 hours' unpaid work at the Sutton and Croydon MS Therapy Centre, where he is the chairman.

Outside court, March said he was relieved by the sentence.

He said: "I just want to be left alone to get on with my life."

The suspended sentence was welcomed by the pressure group Dignity In Dying, which called for changes in the law.

Chief executive Deborah Annetts said: "At a time when he should have been treated compassionately and allowed to grieve for his wife in peace, David March was arrested.

"This terribly sad case shows once again how the law is failing terminally ill people and their loved ones."

But the British Council of Disabled People said it was a "slap on the wrist".

Spokeswoman Simone Aspis said: "What kind of message is this sending out to society where it is perceived to be easier to kill a disabled person rather than support them to live with dignity?"

Copyright Press Association 2006.