He’s been called a murderer, but others describe him as an angel. Sean Davison insists he’s just helping people to have a peaceful death. However, police in England have moved to shut him down, searching his house, arresting him and launching an investigation into his involvement
Angel or anarchist? New Zealander Sean Davison arrested in England, police probing his role in 29 deaths
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Sean Davison photographed in Dunedin in 2011 awaiting sentencing for the assisted death of his mother, Patricia. He is now being investigated by police in England in relation to 29 more deaths. Photo / NZ Herald
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Sean Davison was arrested in July, on suspicion of assisting the suicide of an elderly British woman he had accompanied to Switzerland two weeks earlier.
During hours of questioning and a search of his house, police discovered evidence he had witnessed many more deaths.
“I’m probably going to be charged in relation to 29 assisted suicides. I didn’t think I was breaking the law,” he told the Herald.
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He was released on bail and police have spent the last six months investigating the deaths. He faces the possibility of a 14-year jail sentence if found guilty.
Davison describes his role as offering support to people who would otherwise die alone, denying any direct involvement in their deaths.
“Somebody should be holding their hand as they die. I feel ashamed of nothing,” he says. He intends to fight any charges.
This is the third time, in as many countries, that Davison has faced a criminal investigation for his involvement in assisted deaths.
A journey into assisted dying
Sean Davison’s story began in 2006 when he returned to Dunedin from South Africa where he had an established career as a professor running a DNA forensics laboratory at a university in Cape Town.
His 85-year-old mother Patricia Davison, a GP and psychiatrist, was dying of cancer and begged him to help her die using a morphine overdose. Too weak to do it herself, he agreed.
Davison published a book about his mother’s death but his involvement, detailed in the original manuscript, was not included. That first draft ended up in the hands of the police and in 2009 they charged him with attempted murder.
He defended the charge, but his high-profile trial ended after he pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of “counselling and procuring an attempted suicide”.
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After five months of home detention, Davison returned to his family in South Africa and led a lobby group, Dignity South Africa, to fight for an assisted dying law to help people like his mother.
Intense media coverage saw him flooded with requests from people asking for his help to die.
Davison says he couldn’t say no and was eventually arrested and charged with the murders of three men: two quadriplegic men who he helped to take a lethal drug and a third with motor neuron disease who he helped to die using a gas, causing deoxygenation.
Facing at least 20 years in prison, Davison pleaded guilty in return for a plea deal of three years’ house arrest and community service.
“My kids did not want a martyr sitting in jail,” he says. Soon after release from his sentence he left the country, revealing that there were at least two other men he helped to die.
Career switch
Davison ended his science career and moved his family to England in November 2022 to take up a job with euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke, as a director of his organisation Exit International.
A key part of his role was to oversee the launch of Sarco (an abbreviation of “sarcophagus”) a portable, human-sized capsule or “suicide pod” that fills with nitrogen gas on the instruction of the person inside, causing death from a lack of oxygen.
Their intention was to launch it as an option in Switzerland where they believed it would be legal to use.
Since 1942, Swiss law has permitted assisted dying, provided there is no selfish motive. The individual must be assessed as being mentally competent and free from external influence. Doctors can then legally prescribe a lethal drug for the person to take, and there is no requirement for a serious or terminal illness.
There are two key organisations that take foreigners through this process, both charging around €10,000 ($18,400) - Dignitas (for those with a physical illness) and also Pegasos (where physical suffering is not a requirement).
Pegasos was founded in 2019 by Ruedi Habegger. His website says it is a non-profit organisation which “believes that it is the human right of every rational adult of sound mind, regardless of state of health, to choose the manner and timing of their death”.
While Sarco was waiting to be ready for its launch, Davison’s time was filled with another Exit International initiative called “The Swiss Program”, escorting members from around the world to an assisted death in Switzerland, always to a Pegasos clinic.
Davison told the Herald his personal view aligns with that of Pegasos and none of the 29 people who chose to end their lives with him as a witness had a terminal illness.
Some suffered chronic severe pain conditions but many were aged over 50 with typical age-related health conditions.
“They felt they had lived a complete life. Things were starting to go downhill. They decided, I’m going to end my life while I have my dignity, while I’m not suffering. Rational decisions,” said Davison.
“It is a sensitive issue. There can be sadness when they’ve weighed up those pros and cons,” he said.
Under Swiss law such people are not required to be free of depression, however, there are safeguards, he claims.
“The process of applying takes two months or more, so time to reflect on what they’re doing.
“They have a consultation with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Is there anything that can be done to help you to live? [they’re asked]. People have changed their mind.”
Individuals seeking assisted deaths must demonstrate mental competence to the doctor and a clear understanding of their decision.
Davison says in his role he spends a lot of time getting to know the person.
“In some of the cases, close to 200 emails between us, numerous phone calls.”
But he says it’s not his role to talk them out of it.
“I want to encourage them to live but I actually balance this very carefully. They want someone supporting them.”
It’s a topic he faced questions on from the detectives after his arrest in July – whether he coerced or encouraged anyone, which he says he strongly denied.
He says his role was to help people fill out the required documentation. “Birth and marriage certificates, proof of address, medical reports.”
He then travelled to Switzerland to be an identification witness at their death. Another option for people travelling on their own was to take a dental record for identification but Davison says most wanted someone with them who knew both them, and the process, well.
Most had no one to go with them, or they didn’t want family to know. Others feared loved ones would face prosecution in their home countries.
Davison says many were alone as their family opposed their decision and refused to accompany them.
“I feel very sorry for them. It’s shocking when a dying person can’t have a loved one there,” he says.
Switzerland: The global hub of assisted death
Clients came from the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Europe and all countries of the United Kingdom. Davison has also fielded inquiries from New Zealand.
The fee charged by Exit International to cover the application process and costs of providing Davison as a witness was €3000 ($5500).
He says he protested to his bosses over the level of the fee.
“I was very, very unhappy with it. I’m glad it’s documented, because when it goes to court, I’m going to show my reluctance to charge this fee,” he told the Herald.
Five of the 29 were from the UK and Davison flew with two of them. More often, he would meet them at the airport when they landed in Switzerland, having arranged their accommodation near the Pegasos buildings.
Until recently Pegasos operated solely from an industrial zone in Leistal, near Basel. Now it also has a purpose-built building on a hill in a small rural town.
“Pegasos gives assistance [deaths] to on average, two people a day. It’s approaching four to five hundred a year,” said Davison.
At €10,000 ($18,400) per client, it’s a multi million-dollar operation. Davison says it complies with the Swiss law requirement of not operating with “selfish motives” because it is a not-for-profit, with running costs.
“The books are open to investigation. There are a number of doctors, nurses, admin staff. In total, Pegasos employs more than 30 staff,” says Davison.
The latest figures from the other organisation that takes foreigners, Dignitas, show 235 ended their lives there in 2023. Two were from New Zealand. (Our own assisted dying law is limited to the terminally ill with six months to live.)
After the person arrives in Switzerland, a Swiss doctor carries out the assessment to make sure they meet the requirement of having the mental capacity to make the decision to end their life.
In 2022 the Swiss Medical Association adopted new ethical guidelines stating it is not justifiable for members to provide an assisted suicide to people who are healthy. However, the association is voluntary which means there are doctors not bound by the guidelines, and able to carry out assessments on such people.
On the final day, Davison is present and fills out the final consent and identification documents and is there when the final act occurs. He has seen a lot of death.
“It doesn’t take a toll because the person has got exactly what they want - it’s a celebration. Occasionally there are some sad ones.
“A person doesn’t want to die, but they have an illness. That is quite sad, seeing the tears at the end. But they’re the minority,” he says.
At Pegasos’ rural location, people’s last moments overlook a view of the Swiss countryside.
They activate a drip which delivers the drug pentobarbital and they fall unconscious within a minute and die quickly afterward.
The police are then notified and attend the scene to ensure compliance with the law.
“No one can leave the building until the police arrive. It is considered a crime scene,” said Davison.
He then informs the family about the death and arranges for the person’s ashes to be sent to their homeland.
He says such phone calls have been difficult to make and he’s faced harsh criticism, especially if the person had chosen not to tell their loved ones about what they were doing. Pegasos now insists that clients do inform their families.
Personal stories: Lives and deaths in context
The lives of the people that Davison has helped, and their reasons for pursuing assisted deaths in Switzerland, are as diverse as the countries they came from. He says a number made it known to him that they wanted their stories told if the opportunity arose. Many loved ones were supportive but others scathing of Davison’s role.
Ingrid Miller, a 53-year-old from Colorado, US, suffered chronic pain from the inflammatory condition lupus and associated severe bowel and bladder dysfunction, a condition she had endured for 30 years, and which ended her career in finance.
Her partner Andy Delpapa says the pain and bodily dysfunction became intolerable.
“Ingrid was on a huge amount of medication for the pain. We had many conversations with the doctors, with her begging to pass away.”
But there was no relief as Ingrid didn’t qualify under Colorado’s assisted dying law. While lupus can be fatal no doctor was willing to sign to say she only had six months to live, as their law requires.
“We even went and shopped for guns, but I said I don’t think you’re strong enough to pull back the barrel. A really difficult conversation,” says Delpapa.
They discovered the option of Switzerland and connected with Davison at Exit International.
“His compassion really helped.”
Ingrid’s mother paid the fees and after they said their goodbyes the couple flew business class to Switzerland in October 2023.
Delpapa says when they arrived Davison had arranged transport and the hotel where he and Ingrid had their final dinner and night together.
“Ingrid was relieved. She was looking forward to it and really happy the whole time we were there, enjoying great food, having the best time. She didn’t hesitate one bit.”
Davison arranged Ingrid’s assessment with the Swiss doctor.
“To make sure that she wasn’t coerced and didn’t have any mental problems. It wasn’t depression, just no real hope of ever getting better,” says Dalpapa.
He describes the final day, arriving at Pegasos and filling out consent paperwork with Ingrid. Then her lying on the bed and the intravenous line being inserted. The emotion in his voice is clear as he recounts their last moments together.
“They were very professional, calm and supportive. It was a nice place, very clean and airy. She just had to reach up and roll the little barrel down and start the flow.
“We then talked for maybe two minutes and she was in the middle of saying something, and she just kind of went ‘ooh’. And then, that was it. She was done.
“We had said our goodbyes for a long time so it was no surprise,” he says.
Delpapa had to wait for the police to arrive. The next day he flew home alone and three weeks later Ingrid’s ashes arrived. He scattered some in the nearby mountains and New Jersey where Ingrid grew up.
He says he is sorry to hear of Davison’s arrest.
“It’s tragic that somebody who is helping people that have no one else is getting in trouble for that. It’s not like he went against their wishes. It’s exactly what the person wanted. He’s basically an angel for doing that.”
Philip Edwards, 73, from Canada threw a secret farewell party, a pre-Christmas gathering, for his friends before flying to Switzerland.
He’d had a successful career as an IT consultant and was in generally good health for his age when he died at Pegasos in May 2024. Davison was there with him.
Those close to Edwards knew of his strong views on assisted death after he’d watched his partner Ronnie die of Aids, and his own mother starve herself to death to end her suffering from illness.
But Philip Edwards’ loved ones didn’t know of his immediate plans to end his life. He left video messages with Davison to help them understand his decision and his disdain for what he’d seen people older than him endure.
To camera Edwards says: “There’s always been some infirmity, a lack of mobility, a lack of continence, a lack of mental acuity, a lack of ability to taste delicious food, diminished hearing, diminished eyesight and these things very often compounded one upon the other, until it’s just awful.
“I have decided that I do not wish to live a diminished life.”
Edwards experienced numbness in his feet which impacted his enjoyment of hiking and said he had a family history of debilitating strokes and dementia. He feared being incapacitated in a care facility.
“I’ll do anything to avoid that.
“I think this is the new normal. I’m just ahead of the game,” he said.
His niece Melinda Borcherds, a nurse, and her husband Ray, a doctor, visited him from Australia shortly before he died.
She says her much-loved uncle feared, as a gay man, going into a retirement home. He would say: “Who do you think I’ll be with? Homophobic people with huge biases”.
“I’m very grateful he had somebody like Sean to talk to and by his side. It was his choice, I respect that,” says Melinda.
Her husband, Dr Ray Borcherds, is an assisted dying doctor in Perth where they have a similar law to that in New Zealand. He’s worked with more than 50 people there who sought assisted death.
“Philip was certainly not depressed. He was a perfectionist, everything in his life was perfect. His house, his possessions. I think he wanted to be in control 100% of the time.”
Borcherds says like New Zealand, Canada does not allow for a person to have an advanced directive to have an assisted death if they become incapacitated, as Philip feared, from a stroke or dementia - only the ability to document a wish to stop being fed.
“Dying by starvation is quite degrading. I think in a clever society we can do better than that,” he says.
Borcherds says he admires the role Sean Davison plays. He has attended many assisted deaths in Australia where the person had no one present who knew them.
“I don’t think anybody should die alone. It’s such a pity, he’s facing legal trouble. Has he assisted suicide?
“He’s accompanied people that were determined to do this anyway.
“I think in the future, this is going to be, I wouldn’t say popular, but I think there’s quite a number of people who would choose to do this when they’re on top of their game,” he says.
Davison recalls his time with Edwards.
“I knew him very well. It felt like losing a friend but it wasn’t something to grieve about. I was happy he’d got what he wanted.
“Philip was an intelligent deep-thinking man,” says Davison.
He recalls a similar man, a well-known Nobel Laureate whose death he attended, again physically well but very private.
“I wish they’d gone public, it would have given gravitas to the option of an assisted death in Switzerland.”
Couples die together
Davison recalls unexpected requests. Pegasos has provided assisted deaths to couples from around the world where typically one was terminally ill and the other was well but couldn’t bear to live on without their partner.
The first assisted death he attended was for a woman in good health who wanted to die at Pegasos with her husband who had late-stage dementia. But he died before they got there, so she carried on.
Angela Leonard, 80, from Wales, had her assisted death in January 2023. With no close family to accompany her, she requested one last dance – a wish that Davison, a former ballroom dancer, gladly fulfilled.
“She believed in the afterlife and was quite certain she would meet him on the other side – she was happy,” says Davison.
David Cass, 68, and his wife Marilyn, 72, died together in October 2023. Both from the US, he had debilitating multiple sclerosis (MS). He was in hospice care and had great difficulty with walking, relying heavily on a walking frame.
His wife suffered from arthritis. They requested that after they died together, they wanted to be immediately cryogenically frozen.
The hope being they could be brought back to life in the future when medical advancements would cure their illnesses. A company from Germany was contracted, with a team there on the day.
“I had to join the dots between Pegasos, the cryogenics company and the couple. So I was very much involved in making the whole thing possible,” says Davison.
Criticism and conflict
Sean Davison says while most assisted deaths were joyful like the Cass’, some struck issues. A woman in her early 50s from the US notified her friends of her intentions once she arrived in Switzerland.
“To her horror, overnight her friends rallied together to try to stop her, and involved the Swiss police and Interpol,” says Davison.
Her friends started a Facebook group “Stop Marcie’s Suicide”. The police did not intervene as a Swiss doctor deemed her mentally capable. “Sadly, she was very distressed on her last day,” he says.
Davison has also faced stinging criticism from family members of the dead more inclined to see him as an anarchist than an angel.
Fifty-nine-year-old Gerry McDonald, a telecommunication engineer from Dublin, died at Pegasos in September 2023.
An atheist from a Catholic family and the youngest of 10 children, McDonald had never married and had no children. He told Davison he was a private and solitary person who had little contact with his siblings, was in good health and never diagnosed with a mental illness.
He said he was not unhappy or depressed but didn’t want to live to be old. He had been a member of Exit International for well over a decade and believed it was his right to die in dignity at the time of his choosing.
He flew to Switzerland without telling anyone, sparking panic among his wider family when they discovered he was missing.
McDonald had asked Davison to delay telling his family of his death until after he was cremated as he feared they would seek to bring his body back immediately for a Catholic funeral - which he didn’t want.
McDonald’s family notified the police when they had not heard from him, and they found Davison’s phone number on a piece of paper in McDonald’s house, enabling them to call and find out what had happened.
Gerry McDonald’s niece Emer Maguire later spoke to a government committee looking at assisted death about the loss of her uncle.
“He was struggling with his mental health and was encouraged to seek help. If he was indeed a member of this organisation [Exit International] for 15 years, what influence did it have on shaping and distorting his view of his life and this world?,” Maguire told the committee.
Contacted for this story about her uncle’s death and Davison’s role Maguire said: “He’s a murderer, in my opinion, an anarchist. The law doesn’t even come into it - for him it’s irrelevant”.
She hopes that Davison is prosecuted but admits that her opinions are not shared by her wider family.
“My aunt who spoke to him [Davison] said he was a lovely kind man. He had her convinced it was what my uncle wanted, and that we should respect his wishes. None of the family wanted a criminal investigation.”
Davison says he’s not an anarchist and rejects the niece’s claims.
“Was he encouraged? No. This was his own, rational, decision. This is not murder. I’m not a murderer,” says Davison.
The brother of another man in his early 70s, also from a Catholic family, made contact expressing his intense anger at the loss of his sibling who died at Pegasos with Davison in early 2024.
He describes the way his brother died as “sick and criminal”. He said he wanted to see what they were doing “shut down”.
Davison, however, has little sympathy for the family saying he was disappointed they hadn’t listened to their brother to understand him.
“Maybe if they had, they would have come with him to Switzerland,” he says.
Davison resigned from Exit International in May last year, planning to take a three-month break before taking up a role with Pegasos in September.
“I saw this huge demand for Pegasos. I realised I would be much happier being more proactive in helping somebody get what they wanted at the end of their life,” says Davison.
He says Exit decided to move away from escorting people to the existing clinics in Switzerland and notified those who had previously registered their interest in having his help that he was no longer available.
Their focus appeared to be on providing Sarco as an option, he says.
Davison felt people were being let down so decided he would follow through and be a witness for those who wished to continue to Pegasos.
“We’d established a relationship over a significant period of time. They trusted me, and they wanted me to be with them for the rest of the journey,” says Davison.
In the 18 months he was working for Exit he was witness to 24 assisted deaths in Switzerland. There were another five in the period between his resignation and his arrest in July.
Sarco
Philip Nitschke and his wife Fiona Stewart formed a new organisation called “The Last Resort” in Switzerland to offer Sarco as an option, headed by Florian Willet, a German living in Switzerland.
It was announced in the Swiss media in early July that the first use was imminent. But the American woman, Jennifer McLaughlin, 55, who was to be the first user of it, said she had parted ways with them after she had grown uncomfortable with the level of media coverage that she was being asked to engage in.
Davison says he was involved with Jennifer McLaughlin when she first made inquiries about an assisted death through Exit but Nitschke and Stewart then became her key points of contact.
Exit International promoted Sarco as an almost free method of obtaining an assisted death compared to the high cost of the existing organisations like Pegasos, which required a prescribing doctor.
“It (Sarco) is another option. Some people don’t like the idea of being enclosed in a small space, not able to hold their loved one’s hand. I respect Sarco as an option alongside others such as Pegasos.
“They complement each other. There should be no competition, and I don’t have a desire to be involved in any competition between the organisations,” says Davison.
In September an unnamed 64-year-old American woman became the first to use Sarco, set up in a forest in the north of Switzerland.
Florian Willet was the only person with her and was arrested when police arrived. He was held in custody for 70 days while police investigated but was then released. No charges have been laid yet but police there say it is still an active criminal investigation and won’t comment further.
In a media release, Exit International and The Last Resort maintain that the first use of Sarco did not break Swiss law.
Sean Davison remained in contact with Jennifer McLaughlin and she was given a free assisted death at Pegasos“out of compassion”, says Davison.
Return to Switzerland
Davison also stayed in touch with others he had planned to help in his previous role with Exit, including Mary Kelly, a 79-year-old British woman. She told him she had recently suffered heart failure and was lonely after losing contact with close friends and her three children.
Davison flew with her to Pegasos in Switzerland where she died on June 29.
Kelly had not told her family of her intentions but had written letters to be sent after her death. Davison says he convinced her it would help them if she left a video message to let them know her thoughts and say goodbye.
After her death, Davison sent it and then called her son in Australia as the nominated contact person. He received an angry response.
“He was very cut up. She had kept her plans very secretive,” says Davison.
What followed a few weeks later halted Davison’s travel to Switzerland. On July 15 at 7.30am a 10-person police search team arrived at his house in England. He was still in his pyjamas and about to get his children ready for school.
The team removed everything to do with his work for Exit International, including his computer and cell phone. He was arrested on suspicion of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide of a person, with police questioning him about his involvement in the death of Mary Kelly.
Davison was kept in custody overnight and questioned for six hours with his lawyer present. He says the police search continued and they were still there when his children returned home from school.
Mary Kelly’s son has been contacted for comment for this story but has not responded.
Davison said the police questioning focused on the payment he received, his relationships with the people and whether or not he had influence over their decision.
He maintains he was co-operative and denied ever coercing anyone. He believed from his employer, Exit International, that his work was not illegal.
He understood family members accompanying loved ones to Switzerland from the UK for assisted deaths had not been prosecuted.
“I had nothing to hide. I was acting out of compassion like a family member would,” he says.
While confirming the time and location of the search and the nature of the arrest of a man in his 60s, police in England would not confirm Davison’s name or comment further, saying their investigation was continuing.
A family’s dilemma
The day after his arrest Davison was set to accompany 95-year-old Valerie Barnes on a flight to Switzerland. She lived in a nearby village, but his arrest put an end to him helping her in her final journey.
Valerie Barnes’ son Noel says his mother was in good health for her age. A woman who knew her own mind.
She was a long-time supporter of Exit and for many years had expressed, with her husband Guy, strongly held views about having an assisted death at the time of her choosing.
“They weren’t wanting to go into long-term care or have protracted illness,” he says.
Noel Barnes and the rest of the family knew of their mother’s plan and her appointment at Pegasos in July. Outside of the family she had kept her plans within a close circle of friends.
“She was about to turn 95 and wanted a big party, a secret going away party. We had it a few days before she was to leave. She wanted a chance to give people hugs,” says Noel Barnes.
It had been a tough time for his mother. Her husband, Noel’s father, died in late 2022 and another son Richard died unexpectedly in April 2023.
“She had some pretty dark days. This sort of forced her into action. ‘I’ve lost my husband and my son, and now I’m going to get this done'.
“Mum had lots of trouble with her legs and was starting to become quite restricted in how she could get around. So, she saw there was a narrowing window in her ability to travel.”
Noel Barnes says his mother appeared to have had a close relationship with Davison. “They developed quite a friendship,” he says.
She was shocked to hear of his arrest when the police knocked on their door.
“They said they had taken his computer equipment and they saw that mum was another appointment that he had the following day, and that’s why they were there to talk to her.”
Valerie Barnes was derailed over the fact Davison’s arrest meant he was not available to support her in her travel to Switzerland the next day.
“She was very upset, about what had happened. The rug being pulled out the day before.
“They were fishing to see if perhaps he was getting money out of her, trying to get a sense of what their relationship was like.”
Noel Barnes doesn’t believe Davison coerced his mother.
“They [Police] realised that we were here as well, and knew [about her plans]. I hope they got a sense that it wasn’t a situation where she was under some kind of duress, or pressure to do something, or being manipulated by him.”
With Sean Davison out of the mix, Noel Barnes was faced with the prospect of him or another family member accompanying his mother to Switzerland. But the police scrutiny scared them.
“The greyness of the law here threw it all into chaos. I wasn’t prepared to drive her to the airport, certainly not after the police had been.
“They knew that she’s travelling. They’re going to be watching,” he says.
The decision was made with his mother that she would travel to Switzerland to die alone.
“We got her a limousine taxi from home to Heathrow. British Airways rolled out the red carpet. She went business class in the end, a one-way ticket.
“Saying goodbye when the taxi came to pick her up, that was quite hard, but she was pretty buoyant. She was going on holiday, that’s how she thought about it.
“She bought some new clothes. In Switzerland she was going to do a little bit of sightseeing. She was trying to go out on a high,” he says.
“We had a couple of conversations and text message exchanges, saying goodbye again.“
Noel Barnes wishes he could have been with his mother when she passed but the risk of prosecution and the impact of that on his life were too great.
“I would have loved to have gone with her and helped her with everything.”
Valerie Barnes died at Pegasos on July 20. She spoke to Davison on the phone, thanking him, as she lay on the bed preparing to activate the drip to end her life.
Global investigation
Sean Davison understands the police are contacting people around the world that he was speaking to about having an assisted death in Switzerland in the future.
Megan Cronin from Hawaii was set to have hers early this year. A former bodybuilder, she suffers chronic pain from a spinal cord injury.
The last three years have seen it escalate to unbearable levels. She hasn’t yet been contacted by police but says Davison never encouraged her towards the “Swiss option”.
“He would empathise, but not encourage. In fact, it’s the opposite. He would say I hope I’d have less pain and find a reason to push on,” she says.
In recent months Cronin became aware of other medical treatments that provide her some hope, so has put the option of an assisted death on hold. She recalls the moment she contacted Davison to let him know of her decision.
“He was overjoyed, saying this is great news because he never wanted that for me. He wanted me to be at peace and support me in any way that he could.
“I’m just angry. They have no idea how people like Sean are needed in the world, for people like me.
“He’s not sitting there egging people on or bringing the drugs. Travelling on a plane with someone isn’t a criminal offence” she says.
Sean Davison’s passport was initially seized by police but later returned. He’s on bail with conditions that allow him to work at Pegasos but with restrictions limiting his direct involvement, he says.
“So… I am working for Pegasos. I’m there one week a month,” says Davison.
The police have continued their investigation over the last six months and maintained pressure on him. In October they arrived unannounced to search his house again.
“They questioned me about why I was going to Switzerland and if it was it in line with my bail conditions,” he says.
“I was told that charges are likely to be laid.”
His bail was extended to mid-April, when his next contact with the police is due.
Davison says he will defend any charges and that he’s in touch with supporters who have committed to fund his legal costs. If a trial proceeds it promises to be substantial and lengthy.
As Sean Davison awaits the outcome of the investigation, his story will provoke debate on what is acceptable to us in life – and in death. But for him, nothing will alter his view of what he did.
“I don’t have any regrets because I’ve always done what I thought was morally right. I would have regretted turning my back on these people.”
