The wife of the terminally ill businessman who died yesterday at a Swiss suicide clinic said she had struggled to accept his ‘terrifying’ decision.

Simon Binner, who had aggressive motor neurone disease, took his own life at the Eternal Spirit centre in Basel after earlier announcing the date of his death on the professional networking site LinkedIn.

His family were at his bedside for his final moments. His stepdaughter Hannah Drury posted a photo of the 57-year-old Cambridge graduate and his wife Debbie Binner on social media with the caption: ‘My beautiful inspirations.’

Simon Binner, who had aggressive motor neurone disease, had died at the Eternal Spirit clinic, surrounded by his wife Debbie (pictured) and other friends and family

His step-daughter Hannah posted this moving tribute to her parents this morning as her father prepared to die

Before her husband’s death, former Sky News presenter Mrs Binner had told how he decided to kill himself in January this year as he drove home from receiving the diagnosis.

‘I found it horrendous,’ she said. ‘He said first of all he wanted to commit suicide because he was utterly determined that he did not want to go through the process of motor neurone disease.

'He has never ever wavered from that view. He started talking about actively committing suicide, which myself and our family found abhorrent and terrifying. He bought a book about how to do it. That was so shocking and so horrifying, but it did open up a discussion on assisted suicide.’

Mrs Binner, 51, made the comments on a now removed Facebook page. She said she believed strongly in ‘the sanctity of life’, but finally accepted his decision after visiting the Eternal Spirit clinic with her husband and speaking to the woman that ran it.

Mrs Binner said: ‘She used the term, “Do you want Simon to stay alive so you can have a human pet?” That put me in a very difficult position. Because did I want Simon to stay alive just for me?

‘It makes you really think about someone’s individual right to choose how they live and how they die.’

Jane Nicklinson, whose 58-year-old husband Tony died more than two years ago after campaigning for his right to die while suffering with locked-in syndrome, tweeted her support to the Binner family

On the Facebook page Mr Binner, of Purley, Surrey, wrote: ‘I have had a great life and was extremely happy until my diagnosis. I have a loving family and some wonderful friends.’

It came as friends and supporters took to social media to bid farewell to Mr Binner, describing him as a 'brave' and 'courageous man'.

One wrote: 'He has taken a brave and public stand on the right to end his life with dignity. Our prayers are with Simon and his family and I sincerely hope the UK will fast-track some more human legislation.'

Another wrote: 'Stay strong my friend, enjoy your time with your beautiful family.'

Jane Nicklinson, whose 58-year-old husband Tony died more than two years ago after campaigning for his right to die while suffering with locked-in syndrome, also tweeted her support to the Binner family.

She wrote: 'How many more people must we send to Switzerland to die? My sympathy to the Binner family #SimonBinner'.

Friends and supporters also took to social media to praise Mr Binner's courage ahead of his death at the clinic

The father-of-three, who was described as a 'high energy workaholic' before the condition rapidly took hold of his body, was seen last night sharing a joke with his wife of 14 years as they spent a final evening together around the Swiss city.

Mr Binner's 85-year-old mother is also believed to have boarded the plane to Switzerland to say goodbye to her son.

The Cambridge-educated businessman, director at a firm that provides care for the elderly, had already announced his death and the date of his funeral on his page on LinkedIn.

He feels he has to go at a time when he can walk onto the plane because he has to do that bit himself Simon's wife Debbie

The grandfather, who was in a wheelchair because of the condition, wrote an obituary-style note on the professional network site of his plans to travel to the clinic.

It came as his wife said the UK's law on assisted suicide had been forced her husband into a 'brutal pre-planned death'.

Under the 'experience' section of the online CV, he had written: ‘I died in Switzerland ... on Mon 19 Oct 2015 and my funeral was on Fri 13 Nov 2015.

‘My MND accelerated very rapidly. The sawbones initially thought I would last until 2017/2018, but they were mistaken – no worries, it’s an inexact science!’

The businessman was diagnosed with aggressive MND - which progressively damages parts of the nervous system - in January.

He said he had decided what he would ‘gladly have to do when my time was upon me’ as he was driven home.

He added on LinkedIn: ‘I don’t recommend MND! Better to have one massive fatal stroke or be killed instantly by a drunk driver! There is nothing that I can say that’s positive about MND.’

Mr Binner, 57, who was director at a firm that provides care for the elderly, had announced his death and the date of his funeral on his page on the professional network site LinkedIn (pictured)

Ahead of his death, the grandfather had also made an emotive call for assisted dying to be made legal in the UK, saying it would have allowed him to extend his life to spend one last Christmas with his family.

Helped by his wife, Mr Binner had recorded a series of videos at his home in Purley, south London, in which he described his struggle with the devastating condition and the reasons behind his assisted suicide.

Struggling to speak because of his condition, the engineer talked of his wish that he could stay in the UK to die at a date of his choosing rather than having to go to Switzerland while he is still well enough to fly.

He had said: ‘I don’t want to go Switzerland to die there, I don’t want to go to hospital... I want to be here for Christmas but I can’t be here.’

The father and grandfather ended his life today through assisted suicide at a clinic called Eternal Spirit in Basel, Switzerland (pictured)

In the videos - which were filmed by the British Humanist Association and law firm Bindmans as part of a campaign to legalise assisted dying - he said the law which makes it a criminal offence in the UK was a ‘nonsense’.

Yesterday, the BHA posted on its Facebook site: 'Simon Binner's battle with motor neurone disease may now be at an end, but many others like him continue to suffer without access to the dignified death that they want for themselves.

'All these people want, like Simon, is for the law to treat them with compassion and respect them as fully autonomous human beings. Our thoughts remain with the Binner family at this difficult time.'

They added: 'Our hearts go out to Simon Binner, his family and everyone else whose suffering has been compounded by the UK's inhumane law on this issue.'

In another video recorded before his journey to Switzerland, his wife Debbie described how his condition is like ‘waking up to a nightmare every morning’.

In a video recorded ahead of her husband's death, his wife (pictured) described how his condition as like 'waking up to a nightmare every morning'

Mrs Binner said before his illness her husband was a ‘high energy workaholic’ who loved skiing, mountain-biking and tennis.

She also said he ‘loved’ spending time with young people and had a ‘huge group of friends’.

Describing how he has deteriorated so much he can no longer even cut his own nails, she said: ‘The horror of it all for someone who is very much a communicator, a very big character, very much a leader... an alpha male who has a lot to say.

‘And that has happened in a period of about seven months.’

WHAT IS MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE? Motor neurone disease (MND) is a terminal illness that kills the motor neurones - the nerve cells that send messages to the muscles so the body can move. There are 5,000 people living with motor neurone disease in the UK at any one time, but it’s unusual for it to strike in under-40s; most people diagnosed are between 50 and 70. The patient eventually becomes entirely paralysed - unable to move, talk, swallow or breathe, but still able to see, hear and feel. In most cases there is no obvious cause - around ten per cent of cases are genetic. Life expectancy is usually six months to five years and the only licensed treatment is the drug riluzole, which can slow the progression of the disease, but only for up to six months. More than £300 million is spent annually on cancer research in the UK, the average annual spending on MND research is £2 million. Advertisement

Mrs Binner added that being able to die in his own home would be ‘gentler’ and ‘less dramatic’.

She added: ‘Simon believes very strongly that this should be his legal right. He wants to be at home as much as possible. Simon feels that if that was available in the UK he may well want to stay alive longer. Christmas would be lovely for us to have.

‘He feels he has to go at a time when he can walk onto the plane because he has to do that bit himself.’

She added: ‘It feels a very brutal pre-planned thing that we are going to have to do. This day is looming.'

Mr Binner, an engineer by trade who worked in the IT industry until 2012, was operations director at Caremark Sutton, which provides home care for the elderly.

It was set up by him and his wife after their 18-year-old daughter Chloe died from Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in 2013.

Referring to his period with the company, his LinkedIn entry reads: ‘I handed over my operations director role to Hannah Drury and became a non-executive director. I died on Mon 19 Oct 2015.’

British Humanist Association has been working with Mr Binner for the last few months to campaign for a change in the law on assisted dying.

The association aims to raise at least £500,000 to bring another case before the supreme court. It is looking for individuals who might be eligible for legal aid to join the effort.

Mr Binner was due to be the lead claimant in a potential High Court claim seeking the right to die for those with terminal illness in the UK.

Chief Executive Andrew Copson said the organisation was 'very sorry' to learn that his condition 'had deteriorated to the extent that he now must travel to Switzerland in order to end his own life much sooner than originally planned'.

‘The tragedy at the heart of Simon’s story is that if the law allowed people with incurable and terminal conditions to seek a doctor-assisted death in this country, he and others like him would have more time to spend with their loved ones before their conditions became intolerable for them,' he said.

Mr Binner's 18-year-old step-daughter Chloe Drury (pictured) died from the rare bone cancer Ewing's Sarcoma in 2013 after being refused access to potentially life-saving cancer drugs

'The current law heaps unnecessary suffering and trauma on to families like the Binners.

‘We continue to support a change in the law for those who are terminally and incurably suffering to end their lives, provided they have made a rational, committed, and uncoerced decision to do so, just as Simon has made for himself.’

A spokesman added today: 'We owe it to Simon and others like him to pursue a more just and humane legal settlement, and with the support of our members, we intend to do just that.'

Last year the supreme court upheld a ban on doctors helping patients to end their lives.

Judges said they could not make a ruling about the right to die for one terminally ill man, Tony Nicklinson, because it was a matter for parliament.