A man who ducked out of a suicide pact with his girlfriend was today behind bars for helping her to die.
John Cross, 51, pulled out at the last minute but allowed Chez Buchanan, 25, to gas herself in his car.
In sentencing him to three-and-a-half years, Mr Justice James Hunt said Cross, of Sussex Close, Canvey, had committed "murder with consent" and added: "Without your assistance here, in my view, she would still be alive."
Cross pleaded guilty yesterday at Chelmsford Crown Court (MON) to the lesser charge of aiding and assisting the suicide of his 25-year-old partner on September 22, 2003.
He was originally charged with murdering Miss Buchanan, who was also known as Tanya Scott.
The court heard Miss Buchanan claimed to be terminally ill with cervical cancer and a brain tumour. She wanted to kill herself and Cross "crumbled and gave in" to her pressures to die together.
But Miss Buchanan was not really sick and had a long history of threatening suicide.
More in today's Evening Echo
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