Death should be a choice for terminally ill people so they can end their lives with dignity, according to a woman whose husband plans to travel to Switzerland if his prostate cancer becomes too bad.

Angela Kilenyi, from Twickenham, branded UK law “medieval” for criminalising those who seek to help their loved ones avoid the suffering that can come with late-stage terminal illness.

Her husband Tom, 87, is having hormone therapy to try to control the growth of the small tumours in different parts of his body, but the couple realise the disease might eventually make his life unbearable.

Angela said: “If need be, we are going to Switzerland, because he doesn’t want to die without dignity.

“We have been independent souls all our lives, so we want to say ‘enough is enough’ when he only has a short while to live.

“He doesn’t want to be in a hospital bed, or linked up to various drips, for weeks or months on end.”

Assisting suicide is a criminal offence in England and Wales, carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

This can take into account actions taken here, regardless of whether the actual death happened overseas, although there are some mitigating factors that make it less likely someone will be prosecuted.

These include whether the suspect was motivated by compassion, and whether they had tried to convince the person not to pursue ending their life.

Angela, 66, said: “Why shouldn’t we have the choice? Tom and I have had great times together, and we don’t want to remember a harrowing end.

“I feel so strongly about it. I don’t understand, in a country such as ours, why you can’t make that choice.

“It’s medieval.”

Tom is planning his 88th birthday party for April, and does not expect to need or want to end his life soon, but he is signed up with an organisation in Switzerland as an “insurance policy”.

And Angela, his partner for 31 years, has started a campaign group for south west London, working in Richmond, Twickenham and Kingston, for the charity Dignity in Dying.

The new group will begin campaigning in south west London, on the streets, at fairs and contacting local councillors and lobbying MPs, who ultimately have the power to change the law.

Angela said: “It sounds like a morbid issue, but I don’t think about it in an emotional way.

“Why on earth should the law say that even booking someone a flight could mean technically they are liable for 14 years in prison?

“The group will be bringing everybody locally up to speed, and campaigning for change.

“There seems to be a massive groundswell of opinion. I’m absolutely inundated with people wanting to help.”

The Kilenyis’ MP Sir Vince Cable recently revealed that he had changed his mind on assisted dying and has now called for it to be legalised.

He described his mother in her old age, suffering from dementia, occasionally begging to die on her bad days, but at other times “insisted on her love of life; simple pleasures like a walk in the park.”

And his late wife Olympia, who died of breast cancer, would have been “appalled” at the idea of choosing an early end.

But, he said, campaigners had changed his mind, and he became the first party leader to publicly back a change to the law.

Angela said: “It’s absolutely wonderful. I think it’s made a lot of difference; coming out so publicly is a big thing to do.”