London, July 15: It was, said their family, a very civilised way to die. Sir Edward and Lady Downes, a shared lifetime of personal and professional triumphs behind them, held hands for their final moments together before climbing on to separate beds to drink the clear liquid containing a fatal dose of barbiturates. Within 10 minutes, watched by their weeping family, they were dead.
The decision of one of Britain’s greatest conductors and his wife to end their own lives in a manner, time and place of their choosing has reignited the debate over assisted suicide in Britain. Yesterday, as their children were interviewed by Metropolitan Police officers over their role in facilitating their parents’ death, the extraordinary finale to the life of Edward, 85, and Joan Downes, 74, began to emerge.
News of their suicide last Friday was released in a statement by their son Caractacus and daughter Boudicca. It said: “After 54 happy years together, they [our parents] decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems. They died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing, with the help of the Swiss organisation Dignitas in Zurich.”
–Agencies