A pensioner who slit his wife's throat then tried to kill himself as part of a suicide pact has been convicted of manslaughter. Graham Mansfield, 73, said 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', Manchester Crown Court heard. Police found Mr Mansfield lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen of their home in Canterbury Road, Hale. He'd called 999 and told the operator that he'd slit his wife's throat the night before, and had tried to kill himself but failed.
Mrs Mansfield 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."
