Edward Downes "serious health problems" suffered by the couple. A statement issued by the couple's children said that while Downes could have gone on living with his deafness and blindness, he did not want to do so after his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In March 2010, Keir Starmer (director of public prosecutions) stated that Caractacus Downes would not be prosecuted for his involvement with his parents' assisted suicide because it was not in the public interest. Edward Downes Sir Edward Thomas ("Ted") Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera. He was
Joan Stafford-King-Harman whom she married in 1997, was the judge Sir Robin Dunn, whom she had known since childhood; he had three children from his first marriage. Sir Robin died in 2014. Lady Dunn spent her last years as a resident at Maesbrook care home, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury. Joan Stafford-King-Harman (Cecily) Joan Stafford-King-Harman (7 March 1918 – 12 July 2018), also Mrs Dennehy, later Lady Dunn, was an English socialite and one of the first women to work for MI6. The daughter of Sir Cecil Stafford-King-Harman, 2nd Baronet, of Rockingham in County Roscommon, Ireland, and his wife, the former Sarah Beatrice Acland,