Suicide pact wife saved from sea

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A woman who survived a suicide pact with her husband is in intensive care after she tried to drown herself again, her solicitor has said.

Wendy Ainscow , 65, from Wirral, was rescued unconscious off the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

She had survived an attempt to kill herself along with husband Bill, 75, in the sea off Tenerife in November 2004.

Her solicitor David Kirwan, said she was now "stable" after being flown to the University Hospital in Tenerife.

Sea rescue

Their suicide pact came after the couple, who had moved from Merseyside to Birmingham, wrote a despairing letter to a newspaper about their daughter Lisa who they claimed had been failed by social services.

Mrs Ainscow's latest suicide attempt comes just days before a 90-minute TV drama based on the couple's story starring Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn

They believed Lisa suffers from Asperger's Syndrome making her aggressive and addicted to buying clothes and other luxuries

Libel action

Last year Mrs Ainscow tried to commit suicide flying to La Gomera, swallowing 30 sleeping tablets and walking into the sea, only to be rescued. Mr Kirwan said: "This week's suicide attempt is the latest shocking turn in an appalling family tragedy.

"Three times now Wendy Ainscow has felt left with no alternative but to take her own life."

Her legal team is preparing a libel action against the Mail on Sunday newspaper after a recent interview with Lisa Ainscow, who is now based in Wirral.