She Killed Her Father in a Failed Suicide Pact and Got the Lowest Sentence in Legal History
Brian Darbyshire, 67, and his daughter Claire, 36, were London residents in 2015. They made their home in Dagenham, Greater London. Although Brian was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995 at the young age of 47, he kept working as a stock controller at the Dagenham Ford Motor factory until he retired. MS is a central nervous system disease that varies in severity.
Brian Darbyshire’s condition gradually deteriorated, eventually leaving him disabled and bedridden. As Brian’s health declined following the loss of his wife Lynn in 2008, his daughter Claire took on the role of primary caregiver, eventually moving in to take care of him. Both of them had a difficult time coping with such a way of life. The relationship between the father and daughter was fraught with regular tension, and the two of them lived an incredibly secluded existence. The nurses who came to check on Brian on a daily basis were their only means of communication with the outside world.
Claire once told a friend that the pressure of taking care of her father was affecting her mental health and that she felt imprisoned. She felt obligated to take care of him. As a result, she felt like she couldn’t move on with her own life, despite the fact that he was family.
