Euthanasia man jailed

Press, 2 November 1981, Page 8

Euthanasia man jailed

NZPA London j The man from Exit, who t brought death in a carrier 5 bag to the sick, the elderly, j and the miserable has been j cleared of murder. But Mark Lyons, aged 70, I described as a “devilish crea- 1 ture” by one woman witness 1 who refused his suicide kit of < pills, alcohol and plastic < bags, was convicted of help- 1 ing people to end their own < lives. He was sentenced to two 1 years in jail, suspended for I two years. His co-defendant Nicholas 1 Reed, the 34-year-old general 1 secretary of Exit, a British 1

group that advocates voluntary euthanasia, was convicted of similar charges and jailed for two and a half years. The two-week trial had heard the macabre details of how Lyons, posing as the bogus “Dr Arthur,” brought death to several people, including elderly women suffering from terminal diseases. The judge said Reed’s case was far more serious than that of Lyons. He believed the older man, : who had already spent 16 : months in jail awaiting trial, • had learned his lesson.

Reed had not only deliberately flouted the law “but he was using the society, the object of which is to get the law changed, as a cover to jump the gun.” The end of the trial brought bitter condemnation of Exit from the British Medical Association. A spokesman said acutely distressed people needed expert care and counselling by professionals whose job it was to help them. The guidance given by Exit was “squalid”, and bore no comparison to the help •which could be offered by the National Health Service.