Mother, 77, who admitted killing her terminally-ill son with large dose of morphine dies after cancer battle

A mother who admitted killing her terminally ill child with a large dose of morphine in 1981 has died after her own battle with cancer.

Antonya Cooper, 77, died last weekend after a battle with terminal breast, pancreatic and liver cancer.

It came shortly after she admitted administering the dose to her seven-year-old son Hamish, who had stage 4 cancer and endured “the most horrendous suffering” before dying in 1981.

The former chairman of Neuroblastoma UK said the young man was in ‘a lot of pain’ as he neared the end of his short life.

In a statement to the BBCMrs Cooper’s daughter said she died at home, surrounded by her family, and that it was “peaceful” and “painless”.

Tabitha said, “It was exactly the way she wanted it. She lived her life on her terms and she died on her terms.”

This happened after officers visited the family in connection with Hamish’s death.

Mrs Cooper’s son Hamish is pictured smiling in late 1974

She said Hamish suffered unimaginable suffering and ‘intense pain’ during his battle with stage 4 cancer before he died in 1981.

Patriotic Hamish, with a Union Flag on his hospital bed. He underwent 16 months of ‘brutal’ cancer treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital after being diagnosed at the age of five

Ms Cooper previously said Hamish “told me he was in pain and asked me if I could take the pain away” and that as a mother she “would not let him suffer”.

The brave boy had been battling neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that affects children, since he was five years old and was told he had just three months to live.

And despite 16 months of ‘brutal’ cancer treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, Hamish’s incurable disease had left him in constant fear of death.

Since Mrs Cooper announced her decision to give her son a large dose of morphine more than forty years ago, Thames Valley Police have launched an investigation.

A police spokesman said earlier: ‘Thames Valley Police are aware of reports of a suspected case of euthanasia involving a seven-year-old boy in 1981.

‘At this early stage, police are investigating these reports and cannot comment further while the investigation is ongoing.’

Speaking about her decision to give her son a large dose of morphine, Mrs Cooper said earlier: “It was the right thing to do. My son was going through the most horrific suffering and the most intense pain, I wasn’t going to put him through that.”

Antonya Cooper amongst the bluebells at Bagley Wood in April 2024

BBC Radio Oxford asked Antonya if she understood she might be confessing to manslaughter or murder, and she replied: ‘Yes’

(Pictured: Hamish in Pembrokeshire with his grandmother in 1974)

Mrs Cooper described in heartbreaking detail how she helped her son die after he begged her to ease his suffering.

“When Hamish said he was in a lot of pain last night I said, ‘Do you want me to take the pain away?’ and he said, ‘Yes please, Mum’,” Mrs Cooper told BBC Radio Oxford.

“And through his external Hickman catheter I gave him a large dose of morphine, which silently ended his life.”

Discussing her decision last May, she added: ‘We had seen how he had bravely fought through all the horrible treatments. We had had him for longer than the original prognosis, so it was the right time.’

BBC Radio Oxford asked the 77-year-old woman on her deathbed whether she believed her son knew she planned to take his life.

Mrs Cooper said she would have honest conversations with Hamish and his sister Tabitha (left), who were ‘as good as thieves’, about the ‘likelihood he wouldn’t survive’

“I have a strong feeling that when Hamish told me he was in pain and asked me if I could take the pain away, he somehow knew what was going to happen,” she replied.

“But I can’t tell you exactly how or why, but I was his mother, he loved his mother and I loved him very much. I wasn’t going to let him suffer. I think he knew very well where he was going.”

Mrs Cooper made her confession as part of her campaign for a change in the law on euthanasia.

Assisted suicide (deliberately helping someone to end their life) and euthanasia (deliberately ending someone’s life) are both illegal in the UK.

Hamish died at home on December 1, 1981.

In 1979, after his fifth birthday, Hamish began to cry from the pain and weight loss. Antonya knew, through her maternal instincts, that he was ‘seriously ill’.

But it took 13 weeks, during which she visited seven different GPs, before she decided to take Hamish to a private paediatrician at the John Radcliffe Hospital. And even then she was told there was ‘nothing wrong’.

Mrs Cooper told how she had given him a ‘large dose’ of morphine to ‘quietly end his life’

Antonya ‘insisted’ on further tests, including blood tests and an x-ray. It later transpired that Hamish had a grapefruit-sized tumour in his abdomen, a stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Hamish was then transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), where he underwent chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, radiotherapy and surgery to remove the cancerous tissue, which had shrunk to the size of a tangerine.

The prognosis was three months and he then underwent 16 months of treatment at GOSH, which ‘destroyed parts of his body’ but prolonged his life.

Antonya said she would have honest conversations with Hamish and his sister Tabitha, who were “as tough as thieves”, about the “likelihood he wouldn’t survive”.

Although Hamish did not ask directly about death, there came a point later when Antonya, in response to one of his questions, said to him, “Yes, Hamish, you will probably die.”

It was incredibly hard, but after the treatments were over, he went back to school, his hair started growing again and in the summer of 1981 the family enjoyed a seaside holiday.

However, in the autumn, Hamish suffered a knock to one of his ankles and developed septic arthritis, for which biopsies were taken, which later showed that his cancer had ‘returned with full force’.

Mrs Cooper said that at that moment they ‘knew this was the last journey’ and that after receiving palliative care at home and being given morphine sulphate, Hamish died on December 1, 1981.