A mother from East Sussex cleared of trying to murder her seriously ill daughter has insisted she "never had a moment's regret" about helping her end her life.

Kay Gilderdale, 55, said she was following daughter Lynn's own considered wish by helping her commit suicide at the family bungalow in Stonegate, near Heathfield.

Miss Gilderdale, 31, was struck down with the chronic fatigue illness ME aged 14 and went from living an active life as a teenager to being bed-ridden and needing 24-hour care.

Her mother was charged with attempted murder but was cleared at Lewes Crown Court on Monday after earlier admitting assisting her suicide, for which she received a 12-month conditional discharge.

The case prompted criticism from some quarters about the public interest in prosecuting her for attempted murder when she had already admitted aiding her daughter's suicide.

Mrs Gilderdale told the Daily Mail: "I have never had a moment's regret. If I had, I don't think I would be able to cope. I know I did what Lynn needed and now she is at peace.

"I never wanted her to go. I wanted her to stay. By helping her, I was going against what I was feeling and doing what I knew she wanted."

Over the course of 30 hours, Mrs Gilderdale passed her daughter large doses of morphine, a cocktail of drugs and pumped air into her veins. She died at 7.10am on December 4 from morphine toxicity.

Doctors were unable to say if it was the drugs she administered herself or those given to her by her mother that finally ended Miss Gilderdale's 17-year battle against ME. Mrs Gilderdale said she had "never given up hope" of her daughter getting better.

Following Mrs Gilderdale's acquittal, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer QC defended the decision to bring charges, saying he believed there was enough evidence to provide a "realistic prospect of conviction".