As Graham Mansfield is found not guilty of murder for killing his terminally ill wife, Dyanne, we look at key assisted-dying debates

Graham Mansfield was found not guilty of murder after cutting his wife’s throat “in an act of love” before trying to kill himself, after a judge accepted the couple had made a suicide pact.

It took just 90 minutes for a jury to clear Mansfield, 73, from Hale in Greater Manchester, of the charge after he gave an emotional testimony of how he had killed his wife, Dyanne, because she was in such pain with terminal cancer.

An assisted-dying law would imply it was something everyone elderly, seriously ill or disabled “ought” to consider.

No safeguard could ensure decisions are truly voluntary.

Society should instead ensure palliative care is available to all.

A doctor’s role is not to deliberately bring about a patient’s death.

Palliative care can’t relieve all pain and distress.

Physician-assisted dying is legal for more than 150 million people around the world, with eligibility criteria, safeguards and regulation in place.

End-of-life practices are legal in the UK. The same safeguards could be used in assisted-dying legislation.

The current law is not working, with UK citizens travelling to facilities such as Dignitas in Switzerland. But they need to be well enough to travel, meaning they often end their lives sooner than they would have wished.