Widow Louise Shackleton, who travelled with her husband to Dignitas last December, is urging the Lords to help change the law on assisted dying and end the ‘class divide’
A widow investigated by police for taking her husband to Dignitas has urged lawmakers to recognise that assisted dying cannot be just for “the elite”. Louise Shackleton endured an agonising 10 months before she was finally told she would not be facing charges over her husband’s assisted death in Switzerland last December.
Now she is making a plea to House of Lords peers as they prepare to carry out further scrutiny of a Bill which would give some people a right to die in England and Wales. Asked for her message to peers opposed to the legislation, Mrs Shackleton said: “Assisted dying already exists in England – the wealthy can afford to go to Switzerland and Belgium.
“The wealthy have choice. We need to be mindful that society has spoken via the Commons, and this choice of whether to end suffering needs to be afforded to all the people and not just to the elite.
“This is a clear example of class divide. Every one of them who has said ‘no’ to this bill can afford to go to Switzerland.”
The mum-of-three from North Yorkshire paid tribute to her “amazing” and “kind” husband Antony, who had motor neurone disease, and recalled how he had asked her to “tell my story” after his death.
Mr Shackleton had left a letter for his wife on her return from Switzerland, but she was only able to read it in recent weeks when the police investigation concluded, as she feared opening the laptop it was on while the probe was ongoing.
She described it as a letter “full of love” and said: “He clearly thought that I would be opening that letter on my return, and clearly I couldn’t do that. I opened his tablet so I could print off his pictures and put on a stick for the kids and that’s when I found it. It was there in his notes.
“I broke down because that should have been there for me ten months ago but I could not touch it because I could not taint evidence. I would have been prosecuted if I had.”
Louise broke down in tears as she read the letter, which began: ‘To my soulmate, my lover, my partner in fun and my carer’.
Keeping the rest of the letter private, she explained: “It was full of reassurance. It was full of love. He thanked me for my sacrifice, for taking him, and he thanked me for the life that we had together. He expressed himself so beautifully in it. “
She said it was unlike him to open up his heart completely, adding: “He was shy with people who didn’t know him, he had a wicked sense of humour and caring of others and would do anything to help anybody. He was a kind, caring man who thought the world of me, the boys and his two grandchildren.”
She said her 59-year-old husband had been “so pleased” that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill passed its first vote in the House of Commons last November, less than a week before his death at Dignitas.
Mrs Shackleton said while they were in a position to be able to afford the costly and difficult trip abroad, the right to die should not be something available only to the privileged few.
A special scrutiny committee will take further evidence on the Westminster Bill in Parliament on Wednesday.
The legislation proposes allowing terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death. It is uncertain whether Mr Shackleton might have ben eligible for an assisted death under the Bill as it stands, regarding the six-month prognosis.
Describing the current law as “draconian”, Mrs Shackleton said: “It’s not about whether someone should have the right to die, but whether the state or anyone else has the right to compel you to live a life that’s full of suffering, pain and agony.”
The Bill passed second reading stage in the House of Lords last month, the furthest any such legislation has progressed through Parliament at Westminster. But many peers remain opposed, warning of its potential impact on society’s most vulnerable, with fears among some that the Bill has not had enough scrutiny and not enough consideration has been given to how it might work in practice.
Assisted dying applications under this Bill would be subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist.
It will become law in England and Wales only if both the House of Commons and House of Lords agree on the final wording of the Bill. If it does pass into law, the Government has four years in which to get an assisted dying service into place, meaning it could be 2029/30 before the first assisted death happens.
Assisting suicide is currently against the law in England and Wales, with a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
The Bill scrutiny committee, which is sitting for six sessions over the next three weeks, is expected to hear from medical and legal experts, while other potential witnesses to be called include Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary David Lammy, both of whom voted against the Bill in the Commons.
Of Mrs Shackleton’s case, North Yorkshire Police said the investigation had “clearly been a complex and sensitive” one and it was “decided not to be in the public interest to prosecute”.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: “Upon careful review by specialist prosecutors, it was determined our legal test for prosecution was not met and we advised no further action be taken.”
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