Assisted suicide 'is legalised' by police: Secret new guidelines from senior officers mean deaths are not investigated Dignitas suicide clinic helped 33 people from this country to die last year That pushed total during past decade close to 250 Police gave only a handful of files to prosecutors and no one was charged Campaigners fear assisted suicide is being legalised by the back door as record numbers of Britons end their lives at Dignitas - while their relatives escape investigation for helping them. The Swiss suicide clinic helped 33 people from this country to die last year - the highest ever annual figure - pushing the total during the past decade close to 250. But police passed only a handful of files to prosecutors over the assistance provided by loved ones, and no one was charged. A police worker even accompanied her mother to Switzerland but faced no sanction. Secret: Campaigners fear assisted suicide is being legalised by the back door as record numbers of Britons end their lives at Dignitas, pictured, while their relatives escape investigation for helping them The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has recently issued new guidelines to every force in the country about how they should investigate assisted suicides. Although the document is restricted, this newspaper has been shown the section that deals with deaths abroad. It highlights how tough such inquiries can be because of the difficulty in obtaining evidence from foreign authorities. But the situation has prompted claims that the police are failing to uphold the law and protect vulnerable or disabled people, who could be pressurised to commit suicide. Kevin Fitzpatrick, of the campaign group Not Dead Yet, said: "The idea is gaining hold that assisting someone to commit suicide is not prosecutable in practice." Tory MP Mark Pritchard, who is vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: "I fear assisted suicide is being legalised by the back door. If the will of Parliament is being ignored, there should be an urgent review by the Justice Secretary. Alistair Thompson, of the Care Not Killing Alliance, said of the police guidance: "It is extremely worrying that police officers are saying they cannot investigate and are advising their members not to investigate deaths abroad." Aiding or encouraging a suicide remains illegal in England and Wales under the 1961 Suicide Act and punishable by up to 14 years" imprisonment. But guidelines published in 2010 by the Director of Public Prosecutions spelled out that relatives would not be charged if they acted out of compassion to help a terminally ill person end their suffering. New figures suggest that move reassured Britons that they will escape punishment if they help loved ones travel to countries such as Switzerland, where assisted suicide is permitted. Support: Sir Terry Pratchett, left, is a known supporter of assisted suicide. Tony Nicklinson, right, died a week after losing his legal battle for the right to end his own life Dignitas, set up in 1998, allows foreigners to use its services, and its own figures show that 248 Britons have now died there - with 33 deaths last year, up from 22 the year before. Anyone who wants the organisation's help must become a member, pay about £10,000 and see a local doctor before being given a fatal dose of barbiturates to drink. The Crown Prosecution Service's statistics reveal that police passed them 44 files on assisted suicides and cases of euthanasia - where a doctor administers the fatal dose - between 2009 and 2011. By October 2012, the total had reached 66, including deaths in England and Wales as well as abroad. Of these, prosecutors chose not to proceed with 45, nine were withdrawn and 12 were still being looked into. In previous years, police arrested some relatives and friends after they helped terminally ill people die at Dignitas. But those who made the trip last year said that they had not been questioned. The new police guidelines say "there may be a lack of co-operation or even a legal impediment as to why the relevant foreign authorities cannot provide evidence as to how and why someone has died." They also point out that "in a substantial majority of cases, the bodies are cremated in the country in which the suicide took place. If the body is not repatriated to England and Wales, the death does not come under the jurisdiction of the HM Coroner. Chief Constable David Crompton, ACPO spokesman on homicide, said: "It requires any UK police force to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt the circumstances under which the person died, and this can be difficult, particularly if burial or cremation has already taken place. But whenever we receive information or intelligence about such a case, these investigations are pursued. A CPS spokesman said: "While no prosecutions have been brought since the 2010 guidelines were issued, each case is considered on its own merits. Any inference that the CPS has implemented a blanket policy of not prosecuting for this offence is wrong. Meanwhile, former Labour Minister Lord Falconer will later this year table a Private Member's Bill that would legalise assisted suicide in England and Wales if a patient had less than a year to live. Jo Cartwright, press manager for Dignity In Dying, said: "Some people will choose an assisted death even if they have to travel abroad at great financial and emotional cost to themselves and their loved ones. So a much better alternative would be a safeguarded assisted dying law here in the UK.