I'm sure PM wants assisted dying laws changed, says doctor Starmer spared

A doctor who was spared from criminal charges over assisted dying by Keir Starmer when he was the director of public prosecutions has said he is sure the prime minister wants a change to the "ridiculous" laws on the issue.

- Emily Dugan

Dr Michael Irwin was arrested in 2009 after reports that he had travelled to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland with a terminally ill man to whom he gave £1,500 towards the cost of ending his life.

After Irwin had been on bail for almost a year, Starmer announced that while there was sufficient evidence to prosecute him, it would not be in the public interest.

Irwin, 93, told the Guardian that his first thought when Starmer entered Downing Street was that a law on assisted dying might finally be passed. He said he was now hopeful that the law would change in his own lifetime "so I don't have to go to Switzerland myself", and that if his health deteriorated he wanted the option to die at home "in my own bed".

Irwin's comments come after three former heads of the Crown Prosecution Service gave their support for a bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults. Max Hill, Alison Saunders and Ken Macdonald told the Sunday Times they would be supporting a change in the law.