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Who Is To Blame For David Paterson's Murder?

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A woman who smothered a dying fellow churchgoer with a pillow despite her victim’s opposition to euthanasia has been jailed for life with a minimum term of nine years for his murder.

Cancer patient David Paterson, 81, was close to a natural death when he was suffocated by Heather Davidson, 54, in the bedroom of his care home in North Yorkshire on 11 February.

About two hours earlier she had called Macmillan Cancer Support to ask whether smothering her friend would make her a murderer.

She claimed it was a mercy killing, but she acted unilaterally without thinking about what Paterson wanted or the views of family and staff, Teesside crown court heard.

The judge Simon Bourne-Arton said: “You were only were saving him a few hours of suffering.
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