A son who smothered his dementia-suffering mother to death has been spared jail after a judge described the killing as an “act of mercy”.
Kevin Pearce, 60, admitted killing his mother Eileen, 89, at their family home, having given up his career ten years earlier to become her full-time carer.
The prosecution dropped a murder charge when Pearce pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at the Old Bailey.
Judge Alexia Durran told Pearce during an emotional sentencing hearing, “Your actions can be characterised as an act of mercy,” and said she accepted he believed that “death was the only solution”.
However, the judge said “mercy killing” was not recognised as a defence for homicide and she was required to pass an “appropriate and just punishment”. She imposed a two-year suspended jail sentence with an 18-month mental health rehabilitation order and 240 hours unpaid work.
Durran told Pearce as he sat weeping with his head bowed in the dock: “All of the evidence points to you providing excellent care for your mother in difficult circumstances. I am satisfied you were overwhelmed by the situation.”
The case will add to the debate around assisted dying which was highlighted by Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, last year when she announced she is considering travelling to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland having been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
It was announced on Thursday that Scotland could become the first UK nation to provide terminally ill people with assistance to end their lives if a bill that has been introduced at Holyrood is approved.
Police found Eileen Pearce dead in bed in June 2021 after her son called 999 saying: “I have to confess … I suffocated her.” He directed police to a note in which he had written: “I did try my best. I have been her carer for many years and no one knows how hard it has been. Last night was the final straw. That is not living. That is not my brave, beautiful, bright mum who gave up everything for her boys. In the end, I have given her release. Please forgive me.”
Peace said he told his mother: “You go and then I’ll go.” He said he took an overdose of pills and harmed himself in failed suicide attempts. “I thought it was only fair if I died … I have nothing to live for,” he added.
Pearce said he took early retirement to look after his mother as “nobody else wanted to know”. His mother was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and suffered multiple bone fractures over the years. She was sent home in Bexleyheath, southeast London, from hospital in a delirious state during the Covid pandemic, the court was told.
Pearce told police his mother was in “terrible pain, and she is a tough old cookie”. When asked if he had discussed with his mother helping her end her life, he replied: “There were some conversations which did not make sense. It was not the sort of thing we would talk about.”
The court heard that his mother was a “fiercely independent women” who did not want to go into a care home or be tested for dementia. She was only diagnosed as having had dementia by a postmortem examination.
Pearce’s older brother Terry appealed to the judge to show “compassion”. He said their mother had brought them up alone after the breakdown of her marriage in 1974. Terry left home in 1983 and had “not kept in close contact with my mother and brother”.
He told the court he understood the “stress and horror” of his brother’s situation, as he cared for his own wife while she was dying of cancer. “In recent years, as my mother’s health was failing, Kevin took very good care of her,” he said. “I cannot fully comprehend just what he had to deal with. I do not understand how Kevin found the strength to care for our mother almost alone.”
Jack Talbot, for the prosecution, said there was no dispute that Pearce provided “excellent care” for his mother.
Professor Nigel Blackwood, a forensic psychiatrist instructed by the prosecution, said when Pearce killed his mother he was suffering a “moderate depression” during a “long-standing struggle to cope”. Blackwood said this had a substantial impact on his ability to make “a rational judgment and exercise self-control”.
Dr Bradley Hillier, a forensic psychiatrist instructed by the defence, said Pearce was suffering from severe depression in the two months before the killing and was at a “real low point of not seeing any future” for himself and his mother.
Katy Thorne KC said in mitigation that the “tragic but highly unusual case” occurred within a “loving, supportive, caring relationship”.
