Mother's change of heart

EileenBaker repeatedly told her daughter to kill her if she became paralysed.

Rachel Hurst said of her mother, an actress and teacher: "She said to me regularly that she would prefer to die."

However, when Mrs Baker suffered a stroke at 72 and was unable to speak or move more than a few muscles, she communicated with her family through facial expression and they were convinced she was happy. Mrs Hurst said: "When she died, naturally, she had had five years of happiness."