'It's not the first time and it won't be the last': Graham and Dyanne Mansfield's tragic suicide pact shows why we need to change the law on assisted dying

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The tragic case of Graham Mansfield, the pensioner convicted last month of killing his wife in a suicide pact at their home in Hale, has reopened the debate about assisted dying.

Speaking outside Manchester Crown Court Mr Mansfield, who was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter after slitting his terminally ill wife Dyanne's throat, called for a change in the law on euthanasia. "She shouldn't have had to have died in such barbaric circumstances," Mr Mansfield said. "As far as I'm concerned, as soon as we can get some form of euthanasia in this country, the sooner that happens the better this country will be." Read more: "She was my whole world": Husband who cut his terminally ill wife's throat in desperate suicide pact says he 'killed her with love'...

she promised him 'I won't make a noise' Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in the UK, carrying a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.

In 2015 the Assisted Dying Bill was rejected by MPs, but the issue was debated again in the Commons last month, while the Crown Prosecution Service is currently evaluating its guidelines around suicide pacts and so-called 'mercy killings. Here Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists UK, explains why he believes the Mansfields' case highlights the 'desperate need' to reform euthanasia laws in the UK... Last week saw the sad consequences of the death of Dyanne Mansfield reach their final conclusion, when Graham Mansfield was acquitted of her murder by a jury at Manchester Crown Court.