A 41-year-old man has ended his life by fatal injection rather than carry on living as an alcoholic, in a radical new extension of Holland’s euthanasia regime.

Mark Langedijk decided that death was the only way to escape from his addiction to drink, according to an account published by his brother.

Mr Langedijk set the date for his own death and was joking, drinking beer and eating ham and cheese sandwiches in the hours before his GP arrived at his parents’ home to administer fatal injections, it said.