Graham Mansfield, 73, was found lying in a pool of blood in his kitchen on the morning of March 21, 2021. The body of his wife, Diane, 71, was slumped on a chair in their garden. Mansfield told a 999 caller that he cut Diane’s throat at around 9pm the night before at their home in Hale, Greater Manchester, and then cut his own throat. The retired baggage handler at Manchester Airport is on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of her murder. Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said the couple’s marriage in 1980 was “the best thing that ever happened to me. You don’t want to talk about someone else… but [Dyanne] he felt that way. We both liked to do the same things – cycling, gardening, walking, badminton.” He said Dyanne, a retired import/export worker, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 1999, which led to the removal of a kidney in 2004. He said they had years of good health then and said 2020 was the “start of another fantastic year “, with three holidays and a trip planned for the 40th wedding anniversary. But before the Covid-19 lockdown, his wife developed a “tickling cough”. In September 2020 a doctor told Diane that she had lung cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. “That was basically when our nightmare started,” Mansfield said. A week later they were told the cancer had reached stage 4. Mansfield said: “We knew there was no stage 5. I was inconsolable.” He said the couple were “shocked” when they were told in October he had at most two years to live. He told the court: “Diane said to me, ‘Graham, this is the best I’ll ever be now. When things go badly for me, will you kill me?’ They were the saddest words I had ever heard. I said, “Dyanne, I will. Under one condition. That I go with you.’ “He said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you, there’s no reason.’ I said, “Dyanne, I can’t live without you.” Mansfield’s lawyer, Richard Orme, asked Mansfield: “Did you intend to keep that promise?” He replied: “Yes, of course, because Diane was the most important, precious thing in the world and without her there was nothing.” The defendant said his wife had started chemotherapy for lung cancer, but she was ill and visibly deteriorating. They later agreed to stop the treatment, which gave her months to live. He said his wife did not want to go to the hospital and was afraid they would be separated due to Covid-19 regulations. Mansfield told the jury: “We wanted something sure and quick. I said, “The only thing I can think of is you sitting in the chair – I’ve seen it in the movies – and I’m behind you and I’m just doing it.” He said okay.” Mansfield agreed with David Temkin QC, cross-examining, that the day after his wife’s discovery he told a psychiatrist he no longer had suicidal thoughts. He said: “I didn’t want to live, but I didn’t want to put family and friends through another crisis.” Temkin said: “You have said that Diane was your world and you lived life to the fullest together, but you took her life in a particularly brutal way.” Mansfield replied: “We were in an impossible position. Every fiber of my being didn’t want to do this, but we had no choice. When you want to kill yourself it’s not as easy as you think. It was a tough situation.” Temkin asked: “Do you agree that it was an extreme act of violence against a person you adored?” Mansfield said: “It was an act of love.” Mansfield denies murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.
