Assisted-suicide policy "not a numbers game"

Prosecutors handling assisted suicide cases will be required to give closer consideration to the motivation of the suspect as part of a series of new guidelines published today by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The new set of factors to be taken into account was unveiled by Keir Starmer QC this morning, with 16 against prosecution and six in favour, following a consultation which has attracted 4,710 responses.

In a move away from the interim guidance published last September, Starmer said none of the new factors would be given greater weight.

Assessing whether it was in the public interest to start a prosecution was not a matter running an automated check against the factors in the policy, he told the press this morning.

'It is not a 'tick-box exercise',' he said. 'Nor can it be described as a numbers game.'

In the main, the new policy has made few changes but some are significant.

Compared with the interim guidance, the new factors focus less on the victim and more on the suspect's actions and role.

In particular, prosecutors will be required to consider whether the suspect was driven solely by compassion or whether they stood to gain from the victim's death.

Starmer clarified, however, that a person who may be named as a beneficiary under the victim's will would escape prosecution if compassion was their motivation for assisting the victim.

On the victim's side, the factor relating to whether the suspect was a family member or close friend of the victim has been removed, as has the factor relating to the victim's health or disability.

One factor relating to the victim that has remained, despite overwhelming objection from the respondents, is that the victim has reached a 'voluntary, clear and informed decision to commit suicide'.

Asked about whether the new policy covered so-called mercy killings, the DPP said he had only been required to issue guidance in respect of assisted suicide.

He added that mercy killing was not a legal concept and that the law only recognised suicide (or assisted suicide) on the one hand, and murder or manslaughter on the other.

"This policy does not open the door to euthanasia or so-called mercy killings, he said. "They are quite different from assisted suicide and fall to be considered as murder or manslaughter".