Campaigners for and against euthanasia and assisted dying say the tragic case of Graham Mansfield - a husband who killed his terminally-ill wife 'in an act of love' after they agreed to a suicide pact - should wake-up national debate on the emotive and divisive issue.
MPs, said one campaign group, 'cannot ignore' the matter any longer, calling in the aftermath of the case for a public inquiry into the law as it stands. Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in the UK, carrying a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
Mr Mansfield, 73, who fell in love with his wife of 40 years Dyanne, 71, after they first met in a Wythenshawe pub on New Year's Eve in 1974, slit her throat in the garden of their home in Hale, Trafford, after the couple shared a last drink together.
