The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the husband of terminally ill Diane Pretty cannot help her to commit suicide.
The judges said Britain’s criminalisation of assisted suicide was not a breach of her human rights.
The judges said in their ruling: "To seek to build into the law an exemption for those judged to be incapable of committing suicide would seriously undermine the protection of life which the 1961 Suicide Act was intended to safeguard and greatly increase the risk of abuse".
After hearing the verdict at home, Mr Brian Prett left for London with his wife, saying: "We're still hoping to go ahead with her petition".