Diane Pretty 'free at last'

The husband of right-to-die campaigner Diane Pretty today spoke of his sorrow at her death. Brian Pretty, who helped his wife fight both the debilitating motor neurone disease that killed her and the courts which insisted he could not help her end her suffering, said: "She had to go through the one thing she had foreseen and was afraid of - and there was nothing I could do to help.

"And then for Diane it was over. Free at last."

Mrs Pretty died with her husband at her side in a hospice near her home in Luton yesterday.

She began experiencing breathing difficulties 11 days ago, three days after a panel of European judges rejected her right-to-die plea.

Mrs Pretty, whose illness left her paralysed from the neck down, spent the last two years fighting for her husband to be guaranteed immunity from prosecution if he helped her die.

She wanted the right to take her own life because she feared the slow and painful death from asphyxiation caused by her illness.

Mrs Pretty was admitted to Pasque Hospice in Luton on Friday for prearranged respite care.

Head of medical services at the hospice, Dr Ryszard Bietzk, said: "Over recent weeks her condition had deteriorated and she continued to deteriorate following her admission until she died peacefully.

"Over the time that staff at the hospice had known Diane and her family a considerable affection had developed, along with respect for the way she and Brian coped with her illness. Diane is now at peace and our thoughts now go to supporting her family."

Mrs Pretty was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting condition in November 1999. Within four months she was confined to a wheelchair and reliant on her family - although her intellect remained unaffected.

Two years later, backed by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society and civil rights group Liberty, she applied to the Director of Public Prosecutions to grant her husband immunity from prosecution should he assist her suicide.

Although suicide is legal, helping someone to commit suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. When her application was refused she launched a legal battle to challenge the decision, arguing that the government was violating her right, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment.

Last October the High Court rejected her plea saying democratic opinion on the subject of assisted suicide in this country was "not ready for change".

When an appeal to the House of Lords also failed, Mrs Pretty took her case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg saying: "If I am allowed to decide when and how I die, I will feel that I have wrestled some autonomy back and kept hold of my dignity. That is how I want my family to remember me - as someone who respected the law and asked in turn that the law respected my rights."

Mrs Pretty made an arduous 12-hour journey by ambulance across Europe and appeared before the court in Strasbourg on 19 March. She argued her case for 90 minutes before seven Human Rights judges. When, five weeks later, she heard her appeal had been rejected she said: "The law has taken all my rights away."

Fenellan Morris, the barrister who handled the case on behalf of Liberty, said of Mrs Pretty: "She was an exceptional person and nobody who knew her could fail to be impressed by her bravery and her humanity in the face of a terrible illness."

Voluntary Euthanasia Society director Deborah Annetts said: "Everyone who had the privilege of meeting her was struck by her humanity and bravery in the face of unbearable suffering.

"She took on the fight, not just for herself, but for anyone else who found themselves in the same situation."