Mercy for husband who killed wife

A retired policeman who killed his terminally-ill wife in a suicide pact was shown mercy by a judge today.

Brian Blackburn, 62, walked free from the Old Bailey with a nine-month suspended sentence because he had acted as a "loving husband".

Judge Richard Hawkins said his wife, former nurse Margaret, 62, had only weeks to live and had asked him to cut her wrists "as the last loving thing you could do for her".

Blackburn, of Ash, Surrey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and walked out of court with the sentence suspended for two years and a supervision order.

The court was told he cut his own wrists in an identical way but his blood congealed and he rang police when he did not die.

Judge Hawkins said a post-mortem examination had shown Mrs Blackburn had stomach cancer as she had suspected.

But she had not sought medical help because of her work with dying people in a hospice and her abhorrence of surgery.

He told Blackburn, who had been in custody since his arrest three months ago: "I am not going to send you to prison."

He said there were exceptional circumstances in the case but warned that taking someone else's life was a serious matter.

Mrs Blackburn's condition had begun to deteriorate in the autumn, said the judge.

"By late September, she began to request that you end her life as the last loving thing you could do for her.

"I accept that your relationship with her was a thoroughly loving relationship."
Mrs Blackburn had asked that he make sure she was dead before killing himself after she was awake all night in terrible pain.

Blackburn, a policeman with an exemplary record for 30 years, wiped his eyes during the hearing.

Mrs Blackburn's sons, Colin and Martin Lawrence, had written to the judge pleading for mercy.

The court was told the couple had married in 1998 after Mr Blackburn's wife Angela died from breast cancer.