Mercy killing of sick mother reduced to manslaughter

Case study summary

Mercy killing - client charged with murder of terminally ill mother. CPS reduced charge to manslaughter. They had been firmly set on going to trial, but our specialist manslaughter solicitors eventually persuaded them after obtaining psychiatric and psychological expert reports.

Case study

Our client was a middle aged man with no previous convictions. His elderly mother had been suffering terribly with cancer for several months, and the pain she experienced on a daily basis was increasing. Her son was traumatised by watching her pain, and as she came close to death, the suffering increased. As a final act of mercy he smothered her with a pillow. The prosecution initially charged him with murder. He hired us to defend him. We took the view that a murder conviction wasn't just inappropriate, but that it would also be an injustice.

We considered our client's mental state, and it was clear to us that we should investigate whether his increased stress had affected his judgment. We commissioned top psychiatric and psychological experts to examine the client. The prosecution initially told us that they were sceptical and showed resistance to our proposal of a lesser charge. When they finally considered the two medical reports commissioned by our team they accepted our plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Our client was later released.