Friend jailed over assisted suicide attempts

Wayne Norman.

A MAN who twice tried to suffocate a seriously-ill friend in what was said to have been an attempted assisted suicide has been jailed for 20 months.

Wayne Norman had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to the attempted murder of Michael Bryan on a date between August 27 and September 4 last year.

The 57-year-old, of Winfield Street in Rugby, entered his plea on the basis he had intended to kill 61-year-old Mr Bryan and had attempted to do so on two separate occasions, but had not gone through with it.

On the first of those, at Mr Bryan’s home on Sun Street, also in Rugby, he wrapped cling film round his friend’s head and then held a cushion over his face, but it lasted only a few seconds and he could not carry it out to completion.

On the second occasion, Norman had used sellotape to try to secure a plastic bag Mr Bryan had put over his own head, but again could not carry it through.

And he said he had done so after repeatedly being asked by his friend to help him end his life.

The court heard unrelated to Norman’s actions Mr Bryan died in October last year and Norman is said to have attended his funeral.

Norman was sentenced last Wednesday by High Court Judge Mrs Justice Kathryn Thirlwall, sitting at Nottingham Crown Court.

She told him there had to be an immediate custodial sentence and also ordered him to pay a £100 victim surcharge.

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