‘You showed your wife nothing but love and devotion’
JUDGE’S WORDS AS MAN IS SPARED JAIL FOR KILLING 86-YEAR-OLD WITH DEMENTIA
IT was a heartbreaking promise Lawrence Franks kept until the very end.
An ‘utterly devoted’ husband, he gave his dementia-stricken wife Patricia his word she would never go in a care home. But as Mrs Franks’ condition deteriorated, the 84-year-old found it almost impossible to cope.
She was practically immobile and incontinent. Tragically, 86-year-old Mrs Franks no longer recognised her beloved husband.
On Sunday, July 7, Mr Franks reached breaking point.
A few days earlier he had come out of hospital after a hernia operation and, his own health ailing, could no longer see a way of keeping his promise.
At the couple’s home on Frances Avenue, Gatley, Stockport, which they had shared for 58 years, the former bus driver picked up a scaffolding pole and hit his wife on the back of her neck a number of times. Believing the attack had not proved fatal, he then smothered her with a pillow.
It was, Manchester Crown Court heard, the actions of a man who ‘genuinely believed’ he was performing an ‘act of mercy.’
Mr Franks was yesterday spared jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.
After what Judge David Stockdale described as an ‘extraordinary’ and ‘heart-rending’ case, Mr Franks was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Passing sentence Judge Stockdale said: “This is a most unusual and sad case, many would say it’s heart-rending. You and your wife were happily married for 62 years and were utterly devoted to each other. During her decline in health you cared for her, despite your own age, and looked after her without outside help. Your devotion to her was total and unconditional.
“She was particularly anxious not to be placed in a care home and said so repeatedly, particularly as her health deteriorated. But the burden of looking after her became impossible for you.
“You showed your wife nothing but love and affection and for the last 10 years tended to her every need. Your devotion was quite exceptional.
“There is no sentence I can pass that will turn back the clock or recompense for the loss of Patricia Franks’ life.
“In my judgement this is an exceptional case.”
Earlier, the court had heard how Mrs Franks, a retired clerical worker at Altrincham General Hospital, had been diagnosed with dementia around 10 years ago. Initially the couple, who had no children, were determined to carry on as normal.
Eventually, however, Mrs Franks’ dementia proved too much of a burden for her husband to bear alone.
Mr Franks, who would take his wife to the hairdressers every week, was, the court heard, a ‘very proud and independent person who was reluctant to ask for help.’
He had turned down several offers of support from social services and rejected the pleas of relatives to place his wife in a care home. But Vanessa Thomson, defending, disputed the idea Mr Franks was too proud to seek assistance. She said: “This was not about pride, this was a man who was respecting his wife’s wishes and struggling on as an aging carer.”
Two court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed Mr Franks as suffering from an ‘adjustment disorder’ brought on by the stress of caring for his wife at the time of her death. It meant, the court heard, his ‘judgement to make rational decisions was substantially impaired.’
But throughout it all Mr Franks retained the support of relatives, friends and neighbours, a number of whom were in court.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Franks’ nephew Samuel Whiteside said the family bore ‘no malice’ towards Mr Franks and ‘wished he had sought help from professionals.’
“We believe as a family that Lawrence Franks did what he did because he couldn’t bear seeing her as she was,” he added.