A MAN WHO played rugby for England as a teenager has taken in own life in a Swiss euthanasia clinic after having become paralysed from the chest down in a training accident. Police are investigating.
Nuneaton rugby club hooker Daniel James (23) felt his body had become a "prison" and lived in "fear and loathing" of his daily life, his parents said last night, having accompanied him to Switzerland from their home in Sinton Green, near Worcester.
He had attempted to kill himself several times since March 2007 when a scrum had collapsed on him and dislocated his neck vertebrae, trapping his spinal cord and rendering him tetraplegic.
West Mercia Police have begun an investigation into his assisted suicide, which took place on September 12th. Details were made public yesterday when police published a statement relating to an inquest in progress.
Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and anyone who helps faces up to 14 years in jail. Officers have questioned a man and a woman in the case and are preparing to submit a report to the crown prosecution service.
Mr James's parents, Mark and Julie, said last night that their son had been "an intelligent young man of sound mind" and "not prepared to live what he felt was a second-class existence". He is thought to have attended a clinic in Berne. He is one of the youngest Britons to have travelled abroad for assisted suicide.
Mr James was a talented player who seemed destined for a professional career. He played for England at under-16 level and went on to play for Loughborough University, where he was an engineering undergraduate. The training accident happened four days after he helped England students beat a France side in Oxford.
In a training session, he was practising a scrum when the pack came crashing down. Under their weight, he dislocated bones in his neck and trapped the spinal cord.
In the following weeks he had several operations and spent eight months in rehabilitation before returning home; he only ever regained a small amount of use in his fingers. Early last month he travelled to Switzerland. His funeral took place on October 1st.
The Spinal Injuries Association has expressed shock. "When someone has an injury like this, you think its the end of the world as life is going to change for ever," said Daniel Burden, head of public affairs. "But our mantra is that life need not end if you are paralysed.
"We know of people with similar or worse injuries than Dan who have lived fulfilling lives." - ( Guardianservice)