Michael Caine: I let my Dad die

MICHAEL Caine was at the centre of an astonishing mercy-killing row last night after admitting helping his terminally-ill father to die.

Michael Caine is at the centre of a mercy killing row Michael Caine is at the centre of a mercy-killing row

The double Oscar-winning actor has spoken for the first time of the secret he has kept hidden for more than 50 years.

Sir Michael, 77, confessed he even hid the role he played in the death of his father from his late mother, Ellen. It is unlikely he will face criminal charges, but last night anti-euthanasia campaigners branded his actions “cruel and unnecessary”.

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The candid admission comes in a radio interview to be broadcast tonight. Caine reveals how his father, Billingsgate fish market porter Maurice Micklewhite was gravely ill with liver cancer in London’s St Thomas’ Hospital. Hesays his father had just days to live but he could no longer bear to see him suffer.

Caine tells Classic FM broadcaster Nick Ferrari: “My father had cancer of the liver and I was in such anguish over the pain he was in, that I said to this doctor, ‘Isn’t there anything else you could, just give him an overdose and end this’, because I wanted him to go and he said, ‘Oh no no no, we couldn’t do that’.

“And then as I was leaving, he said, ‘Come back at midnight.’ I came back at midnight and my father died at five past 12.’ So he’d done it...”

The shocked broadcaster says: “That’s called voluntary euthanasia now, of course. Do you agree with that then?”

Sir Michael replies: “Oh, I think so, yeah. I think if you’re in a state to where life is no longer bearable, if you want to go. I’m not saying that anyone else should make the decision, but I made the request.

“But my father was semi-conscious. He couldn’t tell you that he would want to go. They told me he only had three or four days to go anyway.”

Caine’s father died aged 56 in 1955, when the actor was in his early 20s and nearly 10 years before he landed his first big screen role in the film Zulu. His mother, who was a charlady, died many years later in 1989, without knowing what had happened at her husband’s bedside.

Caine tells listeners: “She never knew anything about this. I never ever told her about anything.”

Last night the star declined to add to his remarks. His spokeswoman said: “Sir Michael has no further comment to make.”

But his admission re-ignites the controversial debate over euthanasia.

Earlier this year BBC presenter Ray Gosling was quizzed by police on suspicion of murder after an on-air claim to the mercy killing of a lover who died of Aids. He told how he had made a pact with the man who was in “terrible, terrible pain”.

In the end Gosling was handed a 90-day suspended sentence for wasting police time after it emerged he made the story up. Assisted suicide is a crime under the 1961 Suicide Act and can result in a prison sentence of 14 years.

But new guidelines issued by Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer make it unlikely anyone will face court for aiding the death of a terminally ill relative if they acted out of compassion.

The change came after right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy won a Law Lords victory last year.

MS sufferer Debbie, from Bradford, demanded clarification so she could be sure her husband, Omar, will not be prosecuted if he takes her to a Swiss suicide clinic.

But assisted suicide campaign group Dignity in Dying last night said the issue was still subject of an “ethical fudge”.

Spokeswoman Jo Cartwright said: “It is unimaginably difficult to watch a loved one suffer against their wishes at the end of their life.

“There is an ethical fudge at the moment that prevents doctors from directly helping patients to die at the patient’s request. But it does allow medication to shorten a patient’s life, as long as their intention is to relieve pain, not end life.”

Pro-life pressure group Care Not Killing spokesman Alistair Thompson said: “We are incredibly lucky in this country to have access to amazing palliative care. More drastic action is both cruel and unnecessary.”

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