Ruling in High Court challenge to DPP over assisted suicide prosecution policy change

Issued by Christian Legal Centre

Media Notice
For immediate release
03 December 2015
 

Ruling in High Court challenge to DPP over assisted suicide prosecution policy change

The High Court is expected to rule tomorrow (FRI 04 DEC) on the application for Judicial Review of the Director of Public Prosecutions' amendment of prosecution policy in cases of assisted suicide.

Judgment will be handed down at 10:00 in Court 5 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The application for Judicial Review was heard by the President of the Queen's Bench Division (Sir Brian Leveson) and two other High Court judges on Monday 16 November.

The challenge was brought by disability campaigners Merv and Nikki Kenward who are supported by the Christian Legal Centre.

Mrs Kenward, who was left paralysed by Guillain-Barre Syndrome in 1990, says that the decision by DPP Alison Saunders, in October 2014, to amend prosecution policy was "unconstitutional" and "leaves vulnerable people at risk from dodgy doctors."

The change in wording makes it less likely that healthcare professionals will be prosecuted for assisting suicide, Mrs Kenward says.

It is believed to be the first time that a court has considered the issue of assisted suicide since the House of Commons decisively rejected Rob Marris MP's assisted suicide bill in September. 

Ends.