Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter hates the idea of her dying alone

Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter doesn't want her mother to die alone.

The 83-year-old Childline founder was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in January and revealed earlier this month that she had "joined Dignitas", an assisted-dying clinic based in Switzerland.

Her daughter Rebecca Wilcox is devastated that she won't be surrounded by her loved ones when she dies.

Revealing her vision for her mother's last moments, she told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "My brother, sister and I would be next to her, telling jokes, sharing our final Wordle score, she would beat us at Scrabble, she would close her eyes - and possibly not wake up.

"That's the way she would like to go, I think."

However, Dame Esther is instead looking to end her life at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich.

If anyone did try to travel with her, they could be arrested and prosecuted when they returned to the UK.

Rebecca argued: "Prisoners get a nicer farewell with their favourite last meal, whereas she goes into some strange conveyor belt where you are rushed through a process in an impersonal room without the people that you love because if they come with you they will be arrested.

"We wouldn't be able to go because we'd be arrested on landing. I don't want her to go.

"I don't want her to die. I certainly don't want her to go alone."

She and her siblings Miriam and Joshua are pushing for a free vote in Parliament on assisted dying, eight years after MPs voted against changing the law to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives.

It can still result in 14 years in jail, which means Dame Esther could have to go to Switzerland on her own.

Dame Asther is due to undergo a scan after Christmas to see whether a "magic drug" is helping amid her cancer battle.

However, she told the BBC's 'Today' podcast: "I thought, well, if the next scan says nothing's working I might buzz off to Zurich."