‘Mercy-killing’ mother loses appeal

A DEVOTED mother who injected her brain-damaged son with a fatal dose of heroin as an act of mercy, believing he was suffering a painful “living death”, failed to overturn her murder conviction.

Ruling in what is believed to be the first murder involving a “mercy killing” to reach the Court of Appeal, three judges in London rejected the challenge brought by Frances Inglis, 58, of Dagenham, east London, who is serving a life sentence.

But the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Holroyde – who declared that her conviction appeal was “not arguable” – reduced the minimum term she must spend behind bars before becoming eligible to apply for parole from nine years to five.

Inglis, whose family stood by her, was found guilty at the Old Bailey in January of murder and also of attempted murder, which related to an earlier bid to end her 22-year-old son Tom’s life with an injection of heroin, after he suffered severe head injuries when he fell out of a moving ambulance in July 2007.

Lord Judge said: “We must underline that the law of murder does not distinguish between murder committed for malevolent reasons and murder motivated by familial love.

“Subject to well-established partial defences, like provocation or diminished responsibility, mercy killing is murder.”

Lord Judge said Inglis’s son’s life “could not lawfully be extinguished”.