A pensioner who slashed his wife’s throat then tried to kill himself as part of a suicide pact has been convicted of manslaughter. Graham Mansfield, 73, claimed he and his wife of more than 40 years had agreed that he would kill her when her terminal cancer got "too bad".
Dyanne Mansfield, 71, had been diagnosed with lung cancer and was becoming "weaker and weaker", a court heard this week. Police found Mr Mansfield lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen of their home in Hale, reports Manchester Evening News.
Mansfield had phoned 999 and told the operator that he’d slit his wife’s throat the night before, and had tried to kill himself but failed. He was discovered 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.”
At a trial, Mr Mansfield denied murder and manslaughter. The judge, Mr Justice Goose, told jurors that for Mr Mansfield to be convicted of murder, they had to be sure that he used unlawful violence, which caused the death of his wife, and that he intended to kill her.
But the case could be reduced to 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.
The judge, who told jurors they must apply the law despite "however sympathetic you may feel", said: “It remains unlawful and may reduce this offence from murder to manslaughter.”
Jurors took 90 minutes to return the unanimous verdict following a four day trial. Mr Mansfield, a former baggage handler at Manchester Airport, showed no emotion as the jury foreperson delivered the verdict. He is due to be sentenced later today.
The couple had been married for more than 40 years and had a "very happy and loving relationship", the trial was told. Mr Mansfield said their lives had been "turned upside down" when his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer in October 2020.
“We had a perfect relationship, we loved one another,” Mr Mansfield later told police. “We wanted to live with one another for the rest of our lives and forever if possible. It all changed when Dyanne was diagnosed with cancer.”
Mr Mansfield said they agreed on a suicide pact following the diagnosis. After the killing, he told police: “Dyanne said ‘when it gets too bad, don’t leave me to go into hospital. Please do something about it, kill me’. I said ‘Dyanne I can’t live without you’, and on that day we made a pact that I would do the killing, because Dyanne wouldn’t be able to.”
By March last year, she was becoming weak, losing weight and having difficulties swallowing. She feared going into hospital and never leaving as well as the chance of catching Covid, jurors heard.
“She said ‘I’ve had enough, I can’t take anymore’,” Mr Mansfield told police. “We knew that the end was coming. I said to her, 'Dyanne it sounds macabre, it sounds horrible, how can I ever dream of killing the woman you love? I just want to be with you forever'.”
Jurors heard the couple took a trip to Buxton on March 22 to find a "quiet and convenient" place to carry out the pact, but instead decided to use garden as the venue. Mr Mansfield said he’d killed his wife at about 9pm on Tuesday, March 23, after he’d drunk two whiskies for "Dutch courage" and his wife had some red wine.
“Every fibre of my body was saying not to do it,” he told jurors. “Another part of me was saying ‘Dyanne’s in so much pain, she wants to die’. I was standing behind her, I put my knife to her throat and cut it as quickly as I could.”
Mr Mansfield said he then attempted to take his own life several times, but failed. He passed out only to wake up later.
He told officers: “I was still alive, how can this be? It isn’t fair. I didn’t know how I was alive.” Mr Mansfield said he tried to kill himself again but failed.
In a 999 call made at 9.14am on Wednesday, March 24, last year, while lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, Mr Mansfield told the operator: “My wife has got terminal cancer, and we had made a pact to kill ourselves. I think I have killed my wife, and I have tried to kill myself and it’s all gone wrong.”
Police were then met with an "extraordinary" scene. One officer believed Mr Mansfield was dead until saw his hand flicker.
“He was limp, I thought he was dead once I got there,” PC Claire Jones said. “He was lifeless. He was upset, he kept saying ‘please just leave me to die’.”
Police found that Mr Mansfield had previously made Google searches about other methods of suicide. But he said he decided using a knife to the throat was the ‘only sure fire way’. “I loved her so much,” Mr Mansfield said of his wife.
Two notes were recovered by police, which Mr Mansfield said had been written with the agreement of his wife. A note left under a brick in the garden said: “We have decided to take our own lives. Our house keys are in my jacket pocket. My sister has keys for our place.”
While a note in the kitchen addressed to his family said: “We are so sorry to burden you with this but there is no other way. When Dyanne was diagnosed in late Sept we made a pact. I could not bear to live without Dyanne. As the months progressed and things got worse it only reinforced our decision.
“The time has now arrived and we hope that you will all understand. Thanks for all your help over the past months, it was appreciated by the pair of us. Don’t be too upset. We have had a wonderful and happy life together.”
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