Sister of sufferer of incurable wasting disease says he had begged to be helped to die

RELATIVES and friends of a man who killed his elder brother because he was suffering from an incurable disease have declared their support for him, stating that it was done out of love and was ``the right thing to do''.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the events which led up to the death of James Brady, they say he was ``a picture of misery'' during the advanced stages of the crippling Huntington's Disease.

He was suffering from such symptoms as uncontrollable body contortions, and had pleaded with his family to help him to die.

Paul Brady, 37, will be sentenced in two weeks' time in the first so-called mercy killing case to be decided by a Scottish court. Last week he admitted killing 40-year-old James by smothering him with a pillow on Boxing Day last year.

He was originally charged with murdering James, a fun-loving man and dedicated Celtic supporter, but his plea of guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide was accepted at the High Court in Glasgow last Monday.

The case has re-ignited the debate over such killings, with church leaders reaffirming their opposition to the taking of life and a pro-euthanasia group calling for legislative change.

In a moving documentary entitled A Death in the Family on BBC televison's Frontline Scotland programme tonight, Paul's sister Margaret Currie says: ``I think they were very brave. Both of them. As far as I'm concerned it was definitely the right thing to do. He was the most miserable picture of misery.''

Mrs Currie says that as James's condition slowly deteriorated she came under increasing pressure from a brother who was desperate to die but admitted that she could not bring herself to help him.

``He used to ask me if I'd help him to die. He'd be crying and crying and crying and I'd be saying to him `I can't do it, I can't'.''

James died at Margaret's home in the Partickhill area of Glasgow, where he was spending Christmas on a break from the city's Davenport Nursing Home.

The High Court heard that Paul Brady, who lives in Huddersfield, was also there for Christmas - and that as he bathed James on Christmas Eve, James asked him to kill him.

On Boxing Day, as he put his brother to bed, Paul gave him an extra amount of medication and some alcohol. He told police he then put a pillow over his brother's face.

Margaret says in tonight's programme that, afterwards, James looked ``as peaceful as I'd seen him in a long, long time, just like his old self in a lot of ways. And I kissed him and gave him a wee cuddle and said `Bye son' ''.

Her comments on Paul's decision to carry out James's request to kill him are echoed by Ms Marion Walker, a matron at the nursing home, who tells the programme: ``There was no cure for James and I think his brother was probably under a lot of emotional pressure to help him and I don't think he did anything wrong.

``Certainly people could argue the morality of that statement but I'm quite sure his brother did it with love and thought for James.''

Stephen Brown, a friend of the dead man, also says: ``I'd like to think I'd do the same if that was my brother in those circumstances.

``And furthermore, I'd like to think that my brother would do the same for me, if it was me in those circumstances.''

In the programme, Margaret tells how the inherited disease killed their grandfather and mother, and has since become a ``dark shadow'' hanging over the family.

The strain of James's death and Paul's court case has led her to choose not to be given the results of a DNA test carried out in August which would confirm whether she too has Huntingdon's Disease.

Margaret says she has recently experienced some involuntary muscle movements and has felt unlike herself but adds: ``I would rather not know about it.'' Paul was tested but found to be clear and their other sister Jennifer has not been tested.

Huntington's Disease, which affects the sufferer's ability to function physically and mentally as a result of the deterioration of parts of the central nervous system, is caused by a faulty gene and is hereditary.

If the faulty gene exists in a parent a child has a 50% chance of inheriting it.