Brother in mercy killing walks free from court

A man who killed his elder brother in the first known mercy killing case to have reached the Scottish courts walked free yesterday. Paul Brady, 37, was told by a judge at the High Court in Glasgow that in the "exceptional" circumstances a jail sentence was not appropriate.

Mr Brady had been charged originally with murder, but the Crown had accepted a reduced plea of culpable homicide. The judge, Lord McFadyen, issued a formal admonition for the crime.

The Voluntary Euthanasia Society welcomed the court's decision, but called for the law to be changed. "How many more loving relatives will be turned into criminals by this cruel law?" asked the society's president, Sir Ludovic Kennedy. "We are very glad that Paul Brady was treated leniently by the judge but his crime was simply to help his brother find an end to his suffering."

Mr Brady, from Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire, killed his brother James, 40, a victim of the degenerative illness Huntington's disease, on Boxing Day last year. James died at his sister's home in Glasgow. He had been spending Christmas away from a nursing home and asked his brother to kill him. Mr Brady gave him alcohol and extra medication and put a pillow over his face.

Relatives speaking on BBC television in Scotland said Huntington's disease had been a blight on their family; they had also watched the brothers' mother die from the disease, an illness that has no cure.

The Huntington's Disease Association last night said it was pleased by the outcome of the trial, despite its policy of neutrality on euthanasia. Chairwoman Sue Watkin said: "We're glad this man has been shown compassion. This disorder has a devastating effect on families."Lord McFadyen told Mr Brady in court that since the killing he had been living under the "shadow" of a murder charge, but that there had been "powerful" mitigating factors surrounding his action.

"You brought your brother's life to an end at his own earnest and prolonged heartfelt request," Lord McFadyen said, noting that Mr Brady had acted out of compassion rather than malice, and that there was no need for a custodial sentence. But the judge added: "Whatever the motivation may have been and however mitigating the circumstances, the deliberate taking of a life of another remains a serious crime.

"In the exceptional circumstances of this case, the disposal must not be taken as reflecting any general view on the part of the courts, but simply the sentence I regard as appropriate in the individual circumstances of this case."

However, last night, Father Tom Connelly, spokesman for the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, said: "While we have every sympathy with the family in the situation, because they were in an impossible position, nevertheless there is a standard, we believe. And that standard is Thou Shalt Not Kill. I believe it has to be said we have a responsibility to ... do nothing to endanger another's life."

Huntington's disease usually strikes between the ages of 35 and 45. Children with a parent carrying the faulty gene which causes the degenerative disease, stand a 50 per cent chance of becoming ill. Among other symptoms, sufferers lose weight as they lose their ability to swallow. Sufferers are always aware of their situation.