Widow cleared of killing terminally ill husband | News – The Times, Thetimes.co.uk

An 80 – year-old widow has been cleared of murdering her terminally ill husband after they made a suicide pact.

Mavis Eccleston was also acquitted of the manslaughter of Dennis, 81, her husband of 60 years after the jury was told that the couple had agreed to take a lethal cocktail of drugs and end their lives together at their home in Huntington, near Cannock in Staffordshire.

They were taken to hospital after being found unconscious by relatives in February last year and a 14 – page suicide note written by Mrs Eccleston explained that they were ending their lives because of “ill-health, harassment and neighborhood tensions”.

Mrs Eccleston was given an antidote in hospital but her husband did not recover. Prosecutors had alleged that Mr Eccleston, a former…