The parents of a woman who died in a suicide pact today slammed the sentence handed down to the man who helped her to die.
They said that in their eyes John Cross - who backed out of the pact at the last minute - had murdered their daughter Chez Buchanan.
Cross was originally charged with murder, but this was reduced for aiding and abetting Chez's suicide. He was jailed for three and a half years.
Chez's parents, Rose and Michael Smith of Handley Green, Laindon, said he should have received a longer sentence.
Mum Rose, 50, said: "In my eyes he did murder her, but the charge was dropped. "The fact is she would have been alive today if it was not for him. The sentence fell well short of what he deserved."
Cross, 51, of Sussex Close, Canvey, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday to assisting Chez's suicide on September 22 last year.
Chez would have celebrated her 27th birthday yesterday.
More in today's Evening Echo
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