"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'

A husband who killed his terminally ill wife in a desperate suicide pact has told how they shared a last drink together before going to the bottom of the garden to end their lives. Graham Mansfield, 73, walked free from court on Thursday after being convicted of the manslaughter of his 71-year-old wife Dyanne.

He slit her throat in March last year then unsuccessfully tried to kill himself. In an interview with the Manchester Evening News at his home in Hale, Mr Mansfield told how his wife was informed she had stage four lung cancer in October 2020, just weeks after they'd celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

Read more: 'An act of love to end her suffering' - Judge's words as man walks free from court after cutting wife's throat

When they returned home from the hospital the suicide pact was first raised. Mrs Mansfield asked her husband if he would be willing to kill her if things got 'too bad'.

He agreed 'on one condition'. Mr Mansfield said: "I said I would have to go with her. I said 'I can't live without you Dyanne'.

"In a funny way it gave me strength. I knew I was dying as well. I could focus on that."

The couple met in their local pub in Woodhouse Park in Wythenshawe on New Year's Eve in 1974 and were married six years later. They shared many interests, including walking, gardening and cycling. and it was, according to Mr Mansfield a loving and happy marriage.

He said: "Dyanne was a wonderful person. She was my whole world. We didn't need anybody else. We just needed one another. We had a wonderful life together."

But by March last year Mrs Mansfield was in unbearable pain and told her husband 'I've had enough, I can’t take anymore'. On March 22 they drove to Buxton and Macclesfield to find a 'quiet' and