England clarifies law on assisted suicide

London: Prosecutors in England and Wales received fresh guidelines on assisted suicide on Thursday to make it easier for them to decide whether to charge people who have helped sick loved ones to die.

However, mercy killers would still face the full force of the law, said Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The new guidelines follow a legal ruling and calls for clarification after dozens of cases where people helped partners and relatives to die abroad.
           
"The policy is now more focused on the motivation of the suspect rather than the characteristics of the victim, such as whether the suspect was wholly motivated by compassion", Starmer said.

"The policy does not change the law on assisted suicide. It does not open the door for euthanasia. What it does is to provide a clear framework for prosecutors to decide which cases should proceed to court and which should not.", he added.

Assisted suicide and mercy killing has been at the centre of fierce debate here after a string of recent high-profile cases.
          
Last week, veteran BBC broadcaster Ray Gosling was arrested and bailed on suspicion of murder after admitting on television that he had smothered to death an ex-lover who was seriously ill with AIDS.