A pensioner who cut his wife's throat then tried to kill himself in a failed suicide pact has walked free from court after his spouse's sibling said he'd 'suffered more than enough' already. Peter Higson said he would have been 'very unhappy' if his 73-year-old brother-in-law Graham Mansfield were to be jailed for the killing of his sister Dyanne Mansfield.
Mrs Mansfield, 71, a retired import/export clerk, had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and had weeks to live when her husband of more than 40 years killed her in their garden in Canterbury Road, Hale. He then made serious attempts on his own life which were ultimately unsuccessful.
Mansfield said he called 999 after the failed attempts, while lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, because he didn't want his sister to come across the 'extraordinary' scene. When police arrived, he told one officer 'please just leave me to die'.
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He went on trial accused of murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, and pleaded not guilty to both. After deliberating for about an hour-and-a-half, Mansfield, a retired Manchester Airport baggage handler, was unanimously acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
Jurors accepted that Mr and Mrs Mansfield had made a genuine suicide pact which she had agreed to. Sentencing, Mr Justice Goose said the killing was 'an act of love, of compassion to end her suffering'.
"The last thing you would have wanted was not joining your wife in death," he told Mansfield. "The circumstances of this case have been a tragedy for you and exceptional in the experience of this court."
After saying he was 'entirely satisfied' that Mansfield had acted out of love for his wife, the judge imposed a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years. Mr Higson, who had attended the trial throughout in support of his brother-in-law, said he could 'understand' Mansfield's predicament.
"I miss my sister terribly, " he said in a statement. "Her death did not come as a shock to me because I know she was very ill and in great pain.
"However the manner of her death did come as a shock. Having said that, I can understand the predicament that Graham found himself in. As I have previously stated, I found myself in a similar situation when my own wife died from cancer.
"I don't hold any malice against Graham and will continue to value his friendship in the future. I have supported him since his arrest. I understand that a prosecution had to take place."
Mr Higson said he would have been 'very unhappy' if Mansfield had been jailed. "I believe that Graham has suffered more than enough and that he will never get over this ordeal."
Defending, Richard Orme said Mansfield had experienced a 'living hell' since his wife's death. He said that Mansfield was 'fearful' of being jailed and locked in a 'cramped' cell, because the one thing that has given him 'peace and solace' was his garden, as well as walks in the countryside.
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