A HUSBAND who slit his terminally ill wife's throat in a failed suicide pact claimed he did it "out of love".

Graham Mansfield, 73, walked free from court after taking the life of cancer-stricken Dyanne Mansfield, 71.

He described how he walked his beloved wife to the bottom of the garden before killing her.

The pair agreed how to they would die in advance, with Graham vowing to take his wife's life by slitting her throat from behind – "Like you see in the films".

He took a B&Q Stanley knife from his toolbox – and two other kitchen knives in case the former didn't work – out to the garden with him.

Graham told The Daily Mail: "It was cold, so she had her coat on. I was helping her because she was so weak. She said: 'I won’t make a sound.' And she didn’t."

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He described how the pair settled on the knife as the method of death.

"She left it to me," Graham added.

"When we went on holiday, she’d say: 'Graham, you do the research and then just present me with the options', so I did.

"And we were out of options . . . The knife was the only thing I could think of."

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Graham earlier said his wife was told she had stage four lung cancer in October 2020 – just weeks after they’d celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

When they returned home from the hospital, Graham said the suicide pact was first raised.

Dyanne asked him if he would be willing to kill her if things got "too bad".

He agreed "on one condition" – that he "would have to go with her".

On the morning of March 24 last year, Graham was found lying in a pool of blood at the couple's home, while his wife's body was slumped in a chair at the bottom of the garden.

Their last night together was spent "crying and telling each other how much we loved one another". 

And at around 5pm the next day Dyanne had a glass of red wine, while Graham had a can of lager and a whisky and lemonade.

He asked "Are you ready?" to which his wife replied "Yes, I won’t make a noise".

Graham slit his wife's throat, killing her. He then tried to slit his own.

Police and paramedics rushed to the property after Mansfield dialled 999 and told the operator he had killed his wife of 40 years at 9pm the previous day, before trying to kill himself.

He only called the cops because he knew his sister would soon call – and he feared she would find him dying.

Graham said he begged paramedics to let him die.

Earlier this month, a jury of ten men and two women took 90 minutes to find Mansfield not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Mansfield was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for two years.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Goose told the defendant: "The circumstances of this case are a tragedy for you and are exceptional in the experiences of this court.

SUICIDE PACT

"You were under immense emotional pressure.

"I am entirely satisfied that you acted out of love for your wife."

Outside court, an emotional Mansfield said his wife would be "fuming" that he has a criminal conviction.

He said: "The law needs to change. Nobody should have to go through what we went through.

"Unfortunately today my wife is not here. She shouldn't have had to die in such barbaric circumstances, that's what we had to do.

"As far as I'm concerned as soon as we can get some form of euthanasia with terminal illness, in our case, as a priority, the sooner that happens the better this country will be."

He added: "Dyanne would be fuming now that I have got a conviction for doing something that she asked us to do. That I couldn't live without her."

His solicitor Rachel Fletcher, of law firm Slater Heelis, said: "I am pleased this ordeal is over for Graham. He should never have been charged and in the future he probably wouldn't have been.

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"The law in this country is brutal and needs to catch up with other countries throughout the world."

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of campaign organisation Dignity in Dying, said current laws "force loving family members to become criminals" and said an assisted dying law "would include upfront safeguards to better protect people".

Contact the Samaritans

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, contact The Samaritans on 116 123.

They are available for free at anytime.

Or email https://www.samaritans.org/

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