Daughter accused of murder says she gave mom fatal pills because ill woman ‘wanted to go out with dignity’

A British daughter accused of murdering her mother said she gave the chronically ill woman a fatal dose of pills because she was desperate to die with “dignity.”

Emma Nightingale, 36, said her mother, Lorna, 70, “begged her” to get the tablets because she could no longer bear the pain, she told the Eastern Daily Press.

“She’d had enough and wanted to go with dignity,” Emma said, describing her mom’s chronic kidney disease, severe dental problems, and cataracts in both eyes.

Lorna’s body was found in a studio in East London last December following a drug overdose, after her daughter called the ambulance service.

“She wanted for me to be there with her,” Emma said. “She was happy and smiling right up to the end, watching all her TV shows in bed surrounded by the flowers I constantly bought her.”

Emma Nightingale (r), helped her mother Lorna (l) end her life last December. Suffolk Police / SWNS

In the first half of 2025, Emma relocated the pair from her mom’s home in Lowestoft,100 miles northeast of London.

Emma was charged with murdering her mother, but the case was dropped. Newsquest / SWNS

Emma said that in their final weeks in the studio. she and her mom discussed ending Lorna’s life before the pain became too great.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, and under current laws, helping someone to end their life carries up to 14 years in prison, although a bill allowing assisted suicide for terminally ill adults was passed in November 2024.

As a committed Christian and regular churchgoer, Emma struggled with the ethics of assisted suicide for her mom, who was not terminally ill.

Lorna was too ill to make the journey to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal.

“Mom never would have made the journey, and it was her wish to pass away at home in her own country,” she said.

Emma didn’t provide details on where, when, or how she got the pills, for fear that the doctor who supplied them could face legal trouble.

Emma was arrested and charged with murder, spending five months in custody before pleading not guilty in the Spring.

Prosecutors subsequently dropped the murder charges because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction,” according to court documents cited by the Eastern Daily Press.

She is currently waiting to see if she will face further charges, but stands by her actions.

“It was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. It was the humane thing to do,” she said.

“There was no way I was going to let the person closest to me in the world, my mom, who was my best friend, go through that sort of pain and suffering.”