Two women arrested by Wales police investigating death of assisted dying campaigner at Swiss clinic


Two women, 29 and 69, are arrested by Wales police investigating the death of former publican and assisted dying campaigner, 60, at a Swiss clinic

  • Former publican and assisted dying campaigner Sharon Johnston, 60, has died
  • Two women, 29 and 69, were arrested at Heathrow on suspicion of helping her
  • Sharon had worried anyone who helped her assist her suicide would be arrested 
  • Police said: ‘The two women arrested are not believed to be family members’ 


Two women have been arrested by police investigating the death of a British campaigner for assisted dying in a Switzerland centre.

Sharon Johnston, 60, was told she would never walk again after a freak accident when she fell down the stairs.

Although Sharon had no close family, before she died she admitted having someone in mind who might help with her assisted death.

Sharon, who used to run a pub and also worked in a bookmaker’s, was a prominent campaigner for a change in the law around assisted dying before her death.

Dyfed-Powys Police said a 29-year-old woman from the London area and a 69-year-old woman from Cardiff were arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of assisting or encouraging suicide following Sharon’s death. 

Sharon Johnston, 60, was told she would never walk again after a freak accident when she fell down the stairs

Sharon Johnston, 60, was told she would never walk again after a freak accident when she fell down the stairs

They have been released pending further investigation.

Dyfed-Powys Police said: ‘The two women arrested are not believed to be family members.’ 

Before she died, Sharon admitted she was worried whoever helped in her assisted death could face prosecution. 

‘I am worried about that, very worried but I know the person who might assist me has got the courage,’ she told the BBC last year. 

Doctors had told her she would never get better and said: ‘There’s no medical intervention that’s going to help.’

A 29-year-old woman from the London area and a 69-year-old woman from Cardiff were arrested after returning to Heathrow Airport. Sharon (pictured before her accident) previously said she was worried whoever helped her die would face prosecution

A 29-year-old woman from the London area and a 69-year-old woman from Cardiff were arrested after returning to Heathrow Airport. Sharon (pictured before her accident) previously said she was worried whoever helped her die would face prosecution

Devastated Sharon, of Cardigan, west Wales, was a prominent advocate of assisted dying and in October last year said she was ready to go to Dignitas.

She planned to travel to Switzerland to end her life after she was left unable to move her body apart from some movement in one hand. 

It was a simple fall that changed Sharon’s life but she previously said it could have happened to anyone.

‘I decided to go upstairs and wash and change, put my PJs on early,’ she said.

‘I must have turned to come downstairs and I lost my footing and went headfirst down and crashed into the bottom of the stairs. And then that was it – I just couldn’t move.’

Speaking in October last year, Sharon said: ‘I go out in the town and I can get about. It’s not that like I’m trapped in bed or bedridden. But I don’t want the care.

‘Physically I can’t do a suicide, I can’t take an overdose of medication because it’s all done with the carers in a secure medical box. I don’t want to do a botched suicide.’

Swiss law allows doctors to assist certain patients to die but the process remains illegal in the UK.

A bill to legalise assisted dying is currently in parliament at the Committee stage, which involves line-by-line examination of the potential law’s wording.

Assisted suicide in Britain: How anyone helping someone to take their life can face 14 years in jail 

Under the Suicide Act 1961, anyone helping or encouraging someone to take their own life in England or Wales can be prosecuted and jailed for up to 14 years if found guilty of an offence.

Parliament has so far voted against proposals to allow lawful assistance with suicide, including in September 2015 when the House of Commons rejected the Assisted Dying (No.2) Bill by a substantial majority (330 votes to 118). 

However, this remains an issue of profound public interest and importance and the Assisted Dying Bill introduced by Baroness Meacher has provided an opportunity for Parliament to consider it afresh.

The Government took a neutral position when the Assisted Dying Bill was debated in the House of Lords on 22 October. 

The Bill passed Lords Second Reading without a vote. Committee stage – which involves line-by-line examination of the Bill – has yet to be scheduled.

Opposition to changing the law has come from faith groups, campaigners who say disabled people may feel pressured to end their lives and campaigners who fear assisted dying would become a business.

Since 1942, Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide as long as the motives are not selfish. All forms of euthanasia are against the law. 

Nearly 350 Britons have ended their lives at Dignitas in Switzerland.

Source: UK Parliament and Dignity in Dying 

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