A charge against Birmingham Mail columnist Maureen Messent of wasting police time has been dropped by prosecutors.

The case relates to an article in which she claimed to have been involved with the mercy killing of an aunt.

She had written the article to open up a debate on euthanasia in response to plans to change the law.

The columnist, (68), stood accused of making a false report by means of a newspaper article and radio interview under the Criminal Law Act 1967.

But the Crown Prosecution Service has now withdrawn a charge of wasting police time after receiving evidence from the defence. Police were originally also looking into a potential murder charge.

Newspaper records apparently show that Maureen was covering a story in the West Midlands and was nowhere near her elderly relative at the revelant time.

Her editor, Steve Dyson, said: “This decision has been far too long in coming.

“I’m certain that had the CPS proceeded, Maureen would have been completely acquitted.

“I’m delighted the CPS has now seen sense.”

He added that Maureen would be continuing to work for the Mail, and was “one of the best columnists we’ve ever had”. He confirmed that her column would appear as usual this week.

Maureen, (pictured below), said she gave a fatal overdose of morphine to Eileen O’Sullivan, who was suffering from lung cancer, 40 years ago when she was living in Devon.

She wrote in the paper in February this year of the circumstances surrounding the death of a sick aunt around 40 years ago. Read the article here.

Her original claims brought a strong reaction from readers.

In March she was arrested and questioned by police.

There have been several court hearings, both in Devon, where the alleged offence took place, and in Birmingham, after the case was transferred because of Maureen’s ill-health.

Steve Dyson had spoken to her before the column in question was published, visiting her at home to explain the implications of her story, but she went ahead and revealed what she said was her “family secret”.

Maureen started in journalism at the Western Morning News and then the Evening Herald in Plymouth. She joined the Birmingham Mail as a reporter in the mid 60s. She stayed with the Mail, writing her hard-hitting column for the past 15 years. Although she retired two years ago, she kept on her Mail column and is an outspoken writer.