Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
A truly tragic story, one wonders how one would act in similar circumstances.
A British mother who gave her brain-damaged son a lethal injection of heroin to end his suffering was jailed for life for his murder on Wednesday.
Frances Inglis, 57, admitted killing her 22-year-old son Tom in November 2008 because she did not want to see him suffer — but denied murder.
She told the court he was in a "living hell" after suffering severe head injuries when he fell out of a moving ambulance in July 2007, and insisted she had acted "with love in my heart".
However, Judge Brian Barker told the Old Bailey court in London: "We can all understand the emotion and the unhappiness that you were experiencing.
"The fact is that you knew that you intended to do a terrible thing. You knew you were breaking society's conventions, you knew you were breaking the law, and you knew the consequences."
The jury found Inglis, of Dagenham, east London, guilty of murder and attempted murder — she had first tried to end her son's life in September 2007.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of nine years in jail.
During the trial, Inglis wept as she described her despair at the "horror, pain and tragedy" of her son's helpless condition, telling the court: "For Tom to live that living hell — I couldn't leave my child like that."
She admitted ending his life but said: "I did it with love in my heart for Tom, so I don't see it as murder."
However, prosecuting lawyer Miranda Moore said in her closing statement: "It is a tragic case but it is not a defence to murder to end someone's life to put them out of their misery."
A British mother who gave her brain-damaged son a lethal injection of heroin to end his suffering was jailed for life for his murder on Wednesday.
Frances Inglis, 57, admitted killing her 22-year-old son Tom in November 2008 because she did not want to see him suffer — but denied murder.
She told the court he was in a "living hell" after suffering severe head injuries when he fell out of a moving ambulance in July 2007, and insisted she had acted "with love in my heart".
However, Judge Brian Barker told the Old Bailey court in London: "We can all understand the emotion and the unhappiness that you were experiencing.
"The fact is that you knew that you intended to do a terrible thing. You knew you were breaking society's conventions, you knew you were breaking the law, and you knew the consequences."
The jury found Inglis, of Dagenham, east London, guilty of murder and attempted murder — she had first tried to end her son's life in September 2007.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of nine years in jail.
During the trial, Inglis wept as she described her despair at the "horror, pain and tragedy" of her son's helpless condition, telling the court: "For Tom to live that living hell — I couldn't leave my child like that."
She admitted ending his life but said: "I did it with love in my heart for Tom, so I don't see it as murder."
However, prosecuting lawyer Miranda Moore said in her closing statement: "It is a tragic case but it is not a defence to murder to end someone's life to put them out of their misery."
