A man who killed his terminally ill wife in a suicide pact walked free from court this week.
Former Manchester Airport baggage handler Graham Mansfield told how he shared a final drink with his wife, Dyanne, before going to the bottom of their garden to end their lives. The 73-year-old, slit her throat in March last year then unsuccessfully tried to kill himself.
In an interview with the MEN at his home in Hale, Mr Mansfield said his wife was informed she had stage four lung cancer in October 2020, just weeks after they'd celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.
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He said Dyanne, 71, had returned home from the hospital with the diagnosis and asked him if he would be willing to kill her if things got "too bad." He agreed "on one condition." Mr Mansfield said: "I said I would have to go with her. I said 'I can't live without you Dyanne'.
He added: "In a funny way it gave me strength. I knew I was dying as well. I could focus on that." Mr Mansfield talked of how they met in their local pub in Woodhouse Park in Wythenshawe on New Year's Eve in 1974 and were married six years later.
He said: "Dyanne was a wonderful person. She was my whole world. We didn't need anybody else. We just needed one another. We had a wonderful life together."
After suffering unbearable pain, Mrs Mansfield said she'd "had enough" and was ready to carry out their suicide pact. On March 22 they drove to Buxton and Macclesfield to find a 'quiet' and 'convenient' place to carry out the pact, but instead decided to use their garden the following day.
Mr Mansfield, a retired baggage handler at Manchester Airport, had already begun making preparations. He'd cancelled the papers, the milk delivery and the window cleaner, emptied the freezer and tidied the house.
Their last night together was spent 'crying and telling each other how much we loved one another'. At around 5pm the next day Mrs Mansfield had a glass of red wine, while Mr Mansfield had a can of lager and a whisky and lemonade.
It was cold so they both put their coats on and, after Mr Mansfield had locked up the house on Canterbury Road, made their way down to the bottom of the garden where two chairs were arranged next to each other. He asked "Are you ready?", to which his wife replied "yes, I won't make a noise." He then walked behind the chair she was sat in and slit her throat with a Stanley knife.
Sat overlooking the same garden Mr Mansfield broke down in tears as he recalled that horrific moment. He said: "It went against every fibre of my body. I ran round to the front of the chair. I said 'What have I done?' I sat next to her, put my arm round her and told I loved her."
Mr Mansfield then tried to take his own life, but passed out before waking up in the kitchen the next morning. He called 999, was arrested and told police everything. The retired import and export clerk, was found slumped in a chair at the bottom of their garden. A note left nearby addressed to police read: "We have decided to take our own lives."
Mr Mansfield was eventually charged with murder, which he denied. At Manchester Crown Court the judge, Mr Justice Goose, said the charge would be reduced manslaughter if they believed it was 'more likely than not' that the suicide pact was a joint agreement between the couple, which Mrs Mansfield had voluntarily agreed to and that her husband had made a genuine attempt on his own life.
Jurors took 90 minutes to return the unanimous verdict following a four day trial. The judge sentenced him to a two year suspended prison sentence after saying he was 'entirely satisfied' that Mr Mansfield had acted out of 'love' and 'compassion' towards his spouse.
Mr Mansfield, who admits to feeling 'elation' when the sentence was passed, doesn't believe the case should have got to court in the first place. He has called for euthanasia to be legalised in the UK and said if the Covid lockdown hadn't stopped international travel they would have considered going to Dignitas in Switzerland.
Mr Mansfield said: "We have done nothing wrong. We didn't need permission from other people. It was our decision. I killed her with love.
"If someone is terminally ill, if they're in pain, what's wrong with saying I don't want to live any more? [Euthanasia] is a humane and sensible way to do things. The law meant we had to resort to this barbaric method."
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