Ex-Winchester mayor cleared of trying to murder ill mother

• By PA Media & Marcus White
• BBCNews

Updated 44 minutes ago

A former mayor who admitted smothering his 92-year-old mother with a cushion has been cleared of attempted murder.

David McLean’s terminally ill mother Margaret died at her home in Waltham Chase, Hampshire, in October 2022.

The 72-year-old ex-Winchester mayor told police he killed her because he could not bear to watch her approaching death, the city’s crown court heard.

However, the judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, told jurors there was insufficient evidence in the case.

Armed police were called to the address on 7 October after Mr McLean made an NHS 111 call, the jury previously heard.

In police body-worn camera footage shown in court, the former mayor was asked by an officer what he had told the NHS operator.

The defendant replied: “I said I had passed my mother into the next world with the black cushion which is somewhere over there. I put it over her face because she was drowning. I couldn’t watch her die.”

Asked whether he had killed his mother, Mr McLean replied: “Yes I did.”

Mrs McLean was undergoing end-of-life care and doctors thought she was about to die, swearers were told.

The defendant, of Morley Drive, Bishop’s Waltham, denied the attempted murder charge at a trial which began on 29 April.

After legal discussions earlier today, Mrs Justice McGowan threw out the case.

She told the jury: “Having heard all of the evidence in the case and, in particular, the evidence of the psychiatrist… I have taken the view that there is not enough evidence for you to decide the case.”

The judge previously told jurors: “It is pure coincidence that there is a debate in the House of Commons on assisted dying and assisted suicide.

“This is not what this case is about and this will have no impact on this case at all.”