A man who slit his wife’s throat “in an act of love” and tried to kill himself has been found not guilty of murder after a judge accepted the couple had made a suicide pact.
Graham Mansfield, 73, from Hale, Greater Manchester, received a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter at Manchester Crown Court.
A jury took just 90 minutes to clear him of the most serious charge after he gave emotional testimony about how he had killed his wife, Dyanne, because she was in so much pain with terminal cancer.
He said he killed her after she asked him to take her life “when things get bad for me”. The retired baggage handler and trade union representative said they were “the saddest words I’ve ever heard”, but agreed on the condition that he also end his own life.
Outside court, Mansfield took the highly unusual step of thanking Greater Manchester Police officers who arrested and eventually charged him with murder. “They’ve been so nice and kind,” she said. “They are nice people and they treated me like a human being.”
He called for a change in the law on assisted death: “I would just like to say that the law must change. No one should have to go through what we went through. Unfortunately, today, my wife is not here. He should not have had to die in such barbaric circumstances. That’s what we had to resort to.”
He said Dyanne would be “exciting” to see him with a criminal record to fulfill his death wish.
His lawyer, Rachel Fletcher, said: We are very pleased that the jury acquitted Mr Mansfield of murder, but under the current legal system, as the jury was told, he had no defense to manslaughter. This is a shocking state of affairs in what is supposed to be a civilized country and the sooner the law is changed the better.”
The couple had been married for 40 years and Mansfield had told the court he could not bear the thought of life without his wife. “She was the most precious person in the world to me,” he said. “I wanted to be with her forever.”
Dyanne Mansfield. Photograph: Greater Manchester police/PA
A medical report written after Dyanne’s autopsy found she likely had between one and four weeks to live when she died. He had bladder cancer that spread to his lungs and lymph nodes and had recently stopped chemotherapy.
The couple had no children, but Dyanne’s brother Peter Higson testified in court saying he bore no malice towards his brother-in-law and would continue to value their friendship. He asked the judge to spare Mansfield jail time, adding: “I think Graham has been through more than enough and he will never get over this ordeal.”
In evidence, Mansfield said Dyanne made no sound when he slit her throat in her garden at 9pm on March 23, copying a method he had seen in a war film. He then tried to follow suit, but woke up an hour later. An overdose attempt also failed and the next morning he called 999 and confessed what he had done.
Police and paramedics who attended the scene told the court he begged to be left to die, crying: “I couldn’t even do this properly.” He received treatment for wrist and neck injuries but recovered well.
Several notes were found at the scene. One said: “We have decided to take our own lives”, giving instructions on where to find his house keys and how to contact his sister, the court heard.
Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7am BST
Another note, written by Mansfield and addressed to her family, was found in an envelope in the house. It read: “We’re sorry to burden you with this, but there’s no other way. We made a pact that when it got too bad for Dyanne, we’d end it.
“I couldn’t bear to live without Dyanne and as the months went by and as things got worse, it only strengthened our decision that the time has come. We hope you all understand.
“Don’t worry too much. We have had a wonderful and happy life together.”
Neither note was signed by Dyanne, the court heard.
Sentencing Mansfield, Judge Goose said: “Your evidence, which I accept, is that every sinew in your body did not want to kill your wife. It was what I had asked you to do. It was an act of love and compassion to end their suffering.”
The circumstances of this case are “exceptional,” he said, explaining why he decided against immediate jail time.
Mansfield was described as a “positive person” by a psychiatrist who examined him within days of the murder. She noted that the last year had been “very difficult” for him, but that he was adamant that he would not try to kill himself again, stating: “Dyanne wouldn’t want me to do that.”
Mansfield, who had been on bail, denied the murder. He also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter on the basis that his actions were “under duress of circumstances”.