The man who killed his wife by slitting her throat in 'an act of love'... and the emotional debate that followed
24.07.2022 - 12:07
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Campaigners for and against euthanasia and assisted dying say the tragic case of Graham Mansfield - a husband who killed his terminally-ill wife 'in an act of love' after they agreed to a suicide pact - should wake-up national debate on the emotive and divisive issue.
MPs, said one campaign group, 'cannot ignore' the matter any longer, calling in the aftermath of the case for a public inquiry into the law as it stands. Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in the UK, carrying a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
Mr Mansfield, 73, who fell in love with his wife of 40 years Dyanne, 71, after they first met in a Wythenshawe pub on New Year's Eve in 1974, slit her throat in the garden of their home in Hale, Trafford, after the couple shared a last drink together.
After trying but failing to end his own life he was charged with her murder, but acquitted amid the glare of national publicity by a jury who instead found him guilty of her manslaughter. A judge in moving sentencing remarks spared him prison - saying he was entirely satisfied he 'acted out of love for your wife'.
Dyanne had been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer; the court heard her husband agreed to the suicide pact 'on one condition'. "I said I would have to go with her. I said 'I can't live without you Dyanne'," Mr Mansfield told the Manchester Evening News in an interview hours after his release from custody. "In a funny way it gave me strength. I knew I was dying as well. I could focus on that." Dyanne, he said, was his whole world.
Imposing a suspended prison sentence, the judge quoted retired airport baggage handler Mr Mansfield's evidence back at him: "It was an act of love, of compassion, to end her suffering." Mr Mansfield, speaking