Member

There is another compelling reason why this Bill should pass. I asked for some evidence from the research people in our Library as to how many prosecutions and convictions for aiding a suicide have occurred each year over the last 10 years. How many got to court? Well, from 2015 to 2025, only 10 went to court, and there were two convictions. I tried to find out what the sentences were for the two people convicted, but the information is not easily retrievable. I suspect they were probably suspended sentences. In fact, therefore, the law against suicide for elderly people is not effectively operating in the courts today, because every prosecutor will know that, when faced with a court hearing where the accused has killed his wife or the wife has killed the husband—and they have done it not from greed or to get the bungalow, but for love—juries will not convict. We therefore have a law on the statute book which is not operating effectively, and the police have disengaged from promoting such cases.