A terminally-ill man announced his own death at a Swiss clinic on LinkedIn after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Simon Binner, 57, announced his death on the professional networking site before he was due to fly to the Eternal Spirit clinic in Basel yesterday to end his life.

The former executive director of Caremark in Sutton, who lived in Purley, was diagnosed with aggressive motor neurone disease (MND) on January 7 this year.

In his post Mr Binner said: "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!

"I don't recommend MND, better to have one massive fatal stroke or be killed instantly by a drunk driver."

Mr Binner was a member of the British Humanist Association (BHA), which has campaigned to make assisted dying legal in the UK .

His funeral will be held on November 13.

BHA chief executive Andrew Copson said: "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.

"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."

Last month MPs rejected a second reading of the Assisted Dying Bill for England and Wales.