Police Drop Assisted Suicide Case

Police have backed a decision not to prosecute the family of a terminally ill man who died in an assisted death at a clinic in Switzerland. Paul Bennett, 47, from Swansea, south Wales, chose to die from lethal injection at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich in May this year.

South Wales Police began an inquiry after the death and interviewed members of his family who helped him travel to Switzerland.

The force said yesterday it had been advised by the Crown Prosecution Service that no further action should be taken because it would not be in the public interest.

Det Chief Insp Peter Azzopardi, head of Swansea CID, said he “fully supported” the CPS decision. “I was profoundly moved by the closeness and love that Paul’s family and friends had for him and one can understand the dilemma they faced in such tragic circumstances,” he said.

Mr Bennett’s father, Roy, said: “The relief we feel now it is all over is tremendous.”

Mr Bennett, who left a wife and a 10-year-old son, had motor neurone disease, a progressive fatal condition that causes muscle wastage.

The CPS said each case was decided on its own merits.