‘Mercy killing’ daughter avoids jail after smothering terminally-ill father
A woman who killed her terminally-ill father has been allowed to walk free from court with a two-year suspended sentence by a judge who told her: “I recognise I have taken a merciful course.”
Dr Lisa Davenport, 55, smothered Barrie Davenport, 88, with a pillow at his home in Banbury, Oxfordshire in October 2022.
Oxford Crown Court heard Mr Davenport had been suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer and was in a great deal of pain during his final few hours of life.
John Price KC, prosecuting, said that staff at Mr Davenport’s retirement complex and a doctor did not suspect foul play because his death was expected to be imminent.
“When the doctor certified his death at 10pm on October 17 it was believed to be due to natural causes,” he said.
“But that was not so, Mr Davenport had been in fact unlawfully killed by his daughter, this defendant Lisa Davenport.
“At about 7pm she had smothered her father with a pillow as he lay in his bed.”
Mr Price said Davenport confessed an hour later to a neighbour and friend of her father about what she had done and asked her not to say anything.
The following morning Davenport, who by this point was visibly drunk, also confessed to the manager of the retirement complex who then reported it to the police.
“Were it not for those confessions subsequently saying he had been unlawfully killed, it would have not been discovered,” Mr Price said.
“The evidence suggests that following his terminal diagnosis this defendant was a devoted carer of her father as his health declined.
“It is accurate to say that no one could have done more for a clearly dying parent than she did.”
The court heard that Mr Davenport was in a great deal of discomfort and there were difficulties in getting his pain management under control.
“This defendant was distressed by how her father appeared,” Mr Price said.
“She asked for him to receive more pain relief. This background might explain why a devoted daughter did what she did to her father that evening.
“The prosecution has always accepted that had there been a trial, it would have been the prosecution’s case that the motivation was clearly done in a ‘belief by the offender that it was an act of mercy’.
“This phrase is accurately describing her motivation for doing what she did.”
After killing her father, Davenport confessed to a friend of his, Angela Pountney.
Miss Pountney told police: “Lisa said, ‘I smothered him’. I was shocked and could not say anything, and said, ‘Please don’t tell me’.
“She said, ‘I smothered him’. She said, ‘You must not tell anybody and the family must not know because I will be sent to prison’.”
Davenport, who worked in the biomedical industry, was a single mother of two who described herself as a “functioning alcoholic”.
She was her father’s primary carer and was critical of the care he received in his final days of life, the court heard.
Mr Price said these criticisms were “unfair and inaccurate” and said they were not accepted by the Crown.
The defendant had been assessed by several psychiatrists and at the time of the killing was suffering from a mental illness.
At a previous hearing, Davenport, of Washle Drive, Middleton Cheney, near Banbury, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. She had denied murder.
Mary Prior KC, defending, said Mr Davenport was a “much-loved father and grandfather”.
“For each of them the loss of their father and grandfather is a horrific burden to bear,” she said.
“Each of them have indicated that they all loved their father and grandfather, and that Lisa Davenport worshipped him.
“And despite the fact she caused her father’s death, they all love her and support her and are here in court to support her.”
Ms Prior said there was no criticism of individual care workers, nurses or doctors who looked after Mr Davenport but said he was left in pain during his final hours.
“The reality is that because of his rapid deterioration and because he was cared for within the community, the medication was not able to be increased sufficiently quickly to alleviate him being in pain,” she said.
“What she did was to end his suffering, minutes, maybe hours, certainly not a day longer.
“It was extremely difficult for her. This 55-year-old woman who had never been before a court in her life acted to try and ease the suffering of the man she loved and she pays a heavy price for that.
“She believes this was an act of mercy and that his life was shortened for a very short period of time – a matter of hours.
“She asks for an act of mercy because the impact of an immediate custodial sentence would punish her.
“It would also punish others who have also lost so much, impacting her two children.
“She acted in seconds to do something that prevented suffering for minutes, hours or days.”
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Linden imposed a two-year prison sentenced, suspended for two years, and ordered her to undertake 12-month treatment programmes for her mental health and alcohol dependency.
He also made Davenport subject of a six-month home curfew from 8pm and 8am.
The judge said that she and her father had a close loving relationship and that in his final days he was in a “great deal of pain”.
“To your credit you did not say you were acting on any wishes he had expressed,” he said.
“There was no evidence of premeditation and I also accept your sole motivation was to bring your father’s suffering to an end and acted because his death was close.
“No-one is permitted to take matters into their own hands and people that do should expect an immediate custodial sentence.
“In the case of murder, a life sentence is mandatory – even in the circumstances of a mercy killing.
“I recognise I have taken a merciful course. I have done so because of the mitigating features of your case, which in my judgment are exceptional.”
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