Weekends in jail for euthansia partner

The two women said they were helping Mr Wylie fulfil his wish to die.

A woman convicted of the manslaughter of her partner after helping the Alzheimer's sufferer take a lethal does of a drug has been sentenced to 22 months in weekend detention.

Shirley Justins will be released on parole in September 2010.

Her friend, Caren Jenning, a euthanasia advocate, was also convicted of her role in Graeme Wylie's death, but took her life in September.

The two women said they were helping Mr Wylie fulfil his wish to die.

Jenning, 74, who was convicted on a manslaughter charge after helping Mr Wylie take a lethal dose of veterinary drug Nembutal in March 2006, had been suffering breast cancer. The cancer had spread to other parts of her body.

In October, the judge who presided over the case, Justice Roderick Howie of the Supreme Court, said he was affected by the statements of Mr Wylie's daughters, who had cried in court, where they described how their father's sudden death deprived them of a chance to say goodbye.

While the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, had said the prosecution did not push for Justins to serve a full-time prison term, Justice Howie said he was certain he would impose some punishment, possibly prison, when he sentenced her.

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