Widow visited by police after accompanying husband to assisted dying clinic in Switzerland

A widow was visited by police just days after accompanying her husband to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.

Dan Tuckley, 46, saw his kidney cancer grow five-fold to the point where in September 2022, doctors deemed it terminal, and said there was nothing more they could do for him. In defiance of his condition, he opted to "kill the cancer" before it killed him, according to his family.

Dan booked a spot at an assisted dying clinic near Basel, a quest which cost him £20,000. After a family meal, he was given a syringe filled with drugs and died listening to My Way by Frank Sinatra, surrounded by his family.

But upon returning home, widow Sarah had a knock at her door - from Derbyshire Constabulary.

She said: "I opened the door and they said it was Derbyshire police, I knew there was a risk but when they said police it didn't even register in my head. They said they would not be pursuing an investigation and kept calling it assisted suicide.

"I kept telling them that it was not assisted suicide and it was assisted dying. Dan fought for his country and we were made to feel like criminals for bringing something forward that was going to happen in a matter of days.

"It seems alien to me that we don't have the choice - it is like trying to deprive a woman from having an abortion. Dan did not want to pass in a hospital or with people just watching.

"He wanted to pass on his terms with those who loved him the most and most importantly while he was still him."

Since his diagnosis, Dan had been researching assisted dying and found a clinic near Basel where he would go to die. In December 2022, Sarah was getting ready to leave the house when she got a knock on the door.

Sarah and Dan's sister Kate said that the family were made to feel like criminals and that nobody should have to experience it.

Kate said: "They said they had investigated it but there were no charges. I am annoyed that she had the police knock on her door and she was on her own.

"That makes me cross, I would have liked to be with her when that happened. It makes me furious that our family had to go through this whole process. It makes me cross that Dan was in a state where he was going to die."