Doctor facing jail after she suffocated her terminally-ill dad, 88, with pillow in ‘act of mercy’
A DOCTOR is facing jail after suffocating her terminally-ill dad with a pillow in an ‘act of mercy’.
Dr Lisa Davenport admitted manslaughter charges at Oxford Crown Court today for killing her 88-year-old father Barrie Davenport.
The guilty plea, which was based on manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, was accepted by the prosecution.
Prosecutor John Price told High Court Judge Mr Justice Linden Barrie was “in the advanced stages of terminal pancreatic cancer” when he was killed in October 2022.
The court heard the OAP was bed-bound, largely unconscious and expected to pass away shortly.
Lisa admitted smothering him to death with a pillow to a care home resident where her father had been staying, and a manager.
Mr Price said: “The foundation of the prosecution case was the defendant’s own confession to others about what she had done.
“The evidence established that from that date until the date he died, he could not have had a more devoted carer or better familial care than was provided to him by this defendant.
“It was in that context that she took his life.”
The court heard Lisa’s motive was to put an end to his suffering in palliative care.
Mr Justice Linden heard how three consultant psychiatrists examined Lisa after her father’s death.
Mr Price said: “Their opinions are unanimous in finding at the time of the killing, Dr Davenport was suffering abnormality of mind attributed in her case to more than one recognised medical condition.
“There was a clear history of clinical signs and symptoms of the conditions diagnosed by doctors when they assessed her in October and November this year.”
He added there is a “long established pre-existing history.”
Mr Price concluded: “She was, at that time, unable to acknowledge what she had done. It was in that context the reports were prepared.
“The psychiatrists were each of the opinion that it had substantially impaired her ability to act rationally and to exercise self-control and it provided an explanation for what she had done.
“Those opinions by the doctors seemed to the professionals, to be of compelling weight.
“The prosecution formed the view that if this case went to trial the burden placed upon the defendant to establish this defence to the civil standard, was likely to be achieved.
“If there were a plea of guilty to manslaughter on this basis, the proper course would be to accept it for the reasons I have outlined.”
Defence barrister Mary Prior told the court Lisa’s sister and brother have “supported” her since the case started.
She told the judge: “You will understand this was, as the Crown fairly pointed out, a loving, devoted daughter who was the primary carer for her father who had been unwell for many years but terminally ill more recently.”
Lisa was shouldering “the burden of responsibility” because Barrie had refused to move into a hospice, the court was told.
Ms Prior added: “Regrettably the conditions she has suffered from for many years were not properly treated or diagnosed at the time this was going on.
“We will characterise this at sentencing hearing as a matter of mercy.”
Lisa, of Washle Drive, Middleton Cheney, Banbury, Oxford., is due to be sentenced on February 7, 2025.
She was released on conditional bail.