Terminally-ill wife's plea to die was saddest ever heard, accused tells jury

Mr Mansfield said his wife's diagnosis with lung cancer was "basically when our nightmare began"

A man has told a jury his terminally-ill wife's request that he kill her "when things get bad" were the "saddest words I ever heard".

Graham Mansfield, 73, was found in a pool of blood at his Greater Manchester home on 24 March 2021, near to his wife Dyanne's body, which was in the garden.

He told Manchester Crown Court he had agreed to end her life on condition that he also took his own and "most definitely" intended to keep that vow.

He has denied murder and manslaughter.

The court has heard that the retired Manchester Airport baggage handler told a 999 call operator he had slit the throat of his 71-year-old wife at their home in Canterbury Road, Hale, and then injured himself.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said marrying Dyanne in Las Vegas in September 1980 was the "best thing that had happened to me" and his wife had also "felt that way".

He said they were "very fortunate" as they "both liked doing the same things".

He said his wife, a retired clerk, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1999, which led to the removal of a kidney in 2004, but had then enjoyed years of uninterrupted good health.

The jury was told all that came to an end in 2020, when Dyanne developed a "tickly cough".

'Nothing wrong with you'

He said they had planned for it to be "another fantastic year" with three holidays and a 40th wedding anniversary trip to the United States booked, but in September, Dyanne was told she had lung cancer, which had spread to her lymph nodes.

"That was basically when our nightmare began," he said.

He said a week later, they were told the cancer had reached stage four and, knowing "there was no stage five... there were tears in our eyes [and] I was inconsolable".

"Dyanne said to me 'Graham, this is the best I am ever going to be now. When things get bad for me, will you kill me?'," he said.

"It was the saddest words I had ever heard.

"I said 'Dyanne, I will. On one condition. That I go with you'."

Mr Mansfield told a 999 call operator he had slit his wife's throat and injured himself

He said Dyanne had told him not to as "there is nothing wrong with you", but he told her that he had to, adding: "I said 'Dyanne, I can't live without you'."

Defence barrister Richard Orme asked him if he was "intending to keep that promise?"

"Yes, most definitely, because Dyanne was the most important, precious thing in the world and without her there was nothing," he said.

The trial continues.

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