Chilling final messages of mother who told her family she was going on holiday

A mum told her family she was going on holiday with a mate - only to travel alone to Switzerland to end her life.

Maureen Slough, 58, kept her suffering hidden from her children - and only confided in a friend, whom she only met on TikTok, in her final hours. Although this friend was sworn to secrecy, she contacted Megan Royal, one of Ms Slough's daughters, online but efforts to contact the woman were too late.

During her last hours, the mum, from County Cavan, Ireland, sent a series of haunting messages online, including a text to Megan. In a message to her online confidant, Ms Slough said: "I'm not myself. I feel like I've been living in hell for the last year and it's not good. I wake up crying, shaking, everything, because I'm in fear all the time, and that’s not the way I want to live.

"God wouldn't want me dying alone,' she added. 'But I don’t think God wants people to be suffering until the end like f**king dogs. I wouldn't even allow my dog to suffer, the way I've been allowed to."

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The chilling messages were some of Ms Slough's last communication before her death at the facility in Basel. She had told her family she was going to Lithuania with a friend but instead went to Switzerland, where assisted suicide has been legal since 1942.

Megan, herself a mother of two, said: "He (the online confidant) just replied like,'Your mum’s in Switzerland.’ He’s like, ‘You have a right to know. I was sworn to secrecy. She’s there and she wants assisted suicide.’ I was so scared in that moment."

Megan immediately called her dad, who was unable to contact her mother in Switzerland. The following day at around 1pm, Megan received a message on WhatsApp informing her that her mother had died. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Megan added: "In that very moment, because I was alone, I just sat there with the baby and cried… I just felt like my world ended."

The text message allegedly came from the clinic in Basel. Megan became aware her mother, whom she described as "a fiery, smart and dedicated woman", quietly filed an application and paid around £13,000 to end her life in July.

Megan continued: "No one’s saying she wasn’t feeling pain. Not pain good enough to go and end her life. She had a lot more life to live and give... She was just in a dark time. She wasn’t terminally ill or, in my opinion, ill enough to go and do this and leave our family behind like that."

The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.