Judge urged not to halt Melksham man's High Court action (From Wiltshire Times)

Judge urged not to halt Melksham man's High Court action

6:06pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Melksham

A Melksham man with "locked-in syndrome" who wants his "suffering to end" has urged a judge not to reach a decision which would halt his High Court action.

Severely disabled Tony Nicklinson's barrister presented arguments to Mr Justice Charles, sitting in London, on why his case should be allowed to proceed.

The judge is being asked to rule on an application by the Ministry of Justice that it should be "struck out".

Mr Nicklinson, 57, who is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in Melksham, wants a doctor to be able to "lawfully" end his life, which he sums up as "dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable".

He launched a legal action seeking court declarations that a doctor could intervene to end his "indignity" and have a "common law defence of necessity" against any murder charge.

Contesting the strike-out bid, Paul Bowen, for Mr Nicklinson - who suffered a stroke in 2005 - said the Ministry of Justice had not advanced any arguments which were a sufficient "knock-out blow" to justify striking out of the action.

Mr Bowen said Mr Nicklinson's case was that "an act of euthanasia or assisted suicide" was the only means "by which his suffering may be brought to an end and his fundamental common law rights of autonomy and dignity may be vindicated".

At a recent hearing, David Perry QC, representing the Ministry of Justice, said Mr Nicklinson "is saying the court should positively authorise and permit as lawful the deliberate taking of his life".

He added: "That is not, and cannot be, the law of England and Wales unless Parliament were to say otherwise."

The judge is expected to reserve his decision to a later date.