Mercy Killings and the Law

Recent Case Hightlights Sensitivity of Mercy Killings

A man who slit his wife’s throat “in an act of love” and tried to kill himself has been found not guilty of murder after a jury accepted the couple had made a suicide pact.

Graham Mansfield, 73, from Hale in Greater Manchester, was given a suspended sentence of two years after being found guilty of manslaughter at Manchester crown court.

A jury took just 90 minutes to clear him of the more serious charge of murder after he gave emotional testimony of how he had killed his wife, Dyanne, because she was in such pain with terminal cancer.

He said he killed her after she asked him to take her life “when things get bad for me”. The retired baggage handler and union rep said they were “the saddest words I had ever heard”, but agreed on the condition that he end his own life too.

So, what is the law on ‘mercy killing’?

In early 2022, the CPS consulted on proposed changes to its legal guidance on homicide offences, which covers prosecution decision-making in murder and manslaughter cases. The consultation sought views on introducing new guidance on the public interest factors that prosecutors should consider when dealing with homicide cases involving failed suicide pacts or so-called ‘mercy killings’.

The CPS said more direction was needed to help prosecutors apply the public interest tests for these cases. It said the public interest considerations were similar for prosecutions of cases of encouraging and assisting suicide and those when the parties involved had “entered into a suicide pact or cases of so called ‘mercy killing’.”

The CPS described ‘mercy killings’ and failed suicide pacts as “cases where the course of conduct goes beyond encouraging or assisting suicide”: Instead, the suspect has committed the act that caused the death of the victim. It includes cases in which the victim was seriously physically unwell and unable to undertake the act themselves and may have asked the suspect to do the act.

A person commits murder or manslaughter if they do an act that causes the death of the victim, even where they believe that they were simply carrying out the victim’s express wish or acting in the victim’s best interest.

The CPS therefore proposed to revise the homicide legal guidance to list relevant public interest factors similar to those in the assisted suicide policy. Examples of proposed public interest factors in favour of a prosecution include that the victim was under 18 or had not reached a voluntary, clear, settled and informed decision to end their life. Examples of proposed public interest factors against a prosecution include that the suspect was “wholly motivated by compassion” or that the victim was “seriously physically unwell and unable to undertake the act”.

The consultation closed on 8 April 2022. At the time of writing the CPS is considering individual responses and will publish a summary of responses and the final version of the revised guidance.

How We Can Help

We will continue to monitor CPS policy as it develops. Cases of this type are truly tragic, and our team can offer a sensitive approach to anyone suspected of or charged with, the murder or manslaughter of a loved one. Contact us on 0161 477 1121 or email us.