The man who killed his wife by slitting her throat in 'an act of love'... and the emotional debate that followed
manchestereveningnews.co.ukCampaigners 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.
After trying but failing to end his own life he was charged with her murder, but acquitted amid the glare of national publicity by a jury who instead found him guilty of her manslaughter.
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