The wife oflocked-in syndrome sufferer and euthanasia campaigner Tony Nicklinson has said he died of a broken heart after a devastating court judgement.


Mr Nicklinson, 58, had become steadily more ill with pneumonia since the High Court decision last Thursday which denied him the right to end his life. He died at 10am on Wednesday morning.


His wife Jane, daughters Lauren and Beth and his sister, Ginny, were beside him at their home in Thames Crescent, Melksham, and he asked them to post a farewell message on his Twitter account saying: “Goodbye world the time has come, I had some fun.”


Daughter Beth, writing on her personal Twitter profile, paid tribute to her late father, saying: “RIP @TonyNicklinson. Couldn't have asked for a better dad, so strong. You are now at peace, we will be fine. I love you xxx”
His death ended what he described as a life of ‘pure torture’ since a stroke robbed him of the ability to move or speak.


Mrs Nicklinson said: “Although we heard the judgement a couple of days before it was announced it was Thursday when it really hit home.
“He gave up, he died of a broken heart.


“He told me on Friday ‘there’s no fight left in me’.”
By Sunday Mr Nicklinson’s breathing was becoming laboured and he was going downhill. He refused anti-biotics and stopped eating and drinking.
“We knew we would probably lose the appeal, our best bet was the Supreme Court, but that would be at least another 18 months away,” added Mrs Nicklinson.


“He was worried that his condition was deteriorating, he was having trouble eating and his posture had got worse, meaning he might not be able to use his computer, the only thing he got any real pleasure out of.
“If it had been six months he might have waited, as he hasn’t quite finished his book, but he just wasn’t prepared to keep going that long.


“He is now at peace as he wanted, but it was not the way he wanted to go, he wanted to see this through.”


Mrs Nicklinson said the family will remain in Melksham for the time being. She said: “We haven’t had time to think really, but Beth has her life here and I’m not about to move away and leave my little girl behind.
“We have moved around all our lives and our friends are scattered all around the world, so Melksham is a good place to stay.”


In last week’s landmark High Court decision judges unanimously agreed to uphold the established position that ‘voluntary euthanasia is murder, however understandable the motives may be’.


On hearing the news he said: “Judges, like politicians, are happiest when they can avoid confronting the real issues and this judgement is not an exception to this rule.
 

“I believe the legal team acting on my behalf is prepared to go all the way with this but unfortunately for me it means yet another period of physical discomfort, misery and mental anguish while we find out who controls my life - me or the state.”


The family had planned to challenge the ruling in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.


Mr Nicklinson suffered the stroke on a business trip to Athens in 2005, while working for a Greek civil engineering company based in the United Arab Emirates.


At the time he was vice-chairman of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union and was described as an outgoing and confident person with a busy social and family life. The stroke came as the result of an undiagnosed heart problem and left him hospital-bound in Greece and the UK for the next two-and-a-half years.


A Wiltshire Police spokesman said the force will not be investigating Mr Nicklinson’s death.


Mrs Nicklinson said: “Tony’s appeal is over unless someone else with a similar problem comes forward to take it up.


“I think the British Humanist Association has appealed for someone to come forward.


“We were always fighting for Tony, but it would be an awful shame to let all that hard work go to waste, and it might benefit other people in a similar situation.”


Over the weekend a petition supporting Mr Nicklinson’s ‘right to die with dignity’ reached more than 23,000 signatures.
To see the petition  click here