‘I’VE KILLED MY WIFE’ Pensioner’s tragic 999 call after killing dementia-stricken wife

The call was featured last night in heartbreaking BBC documentary Ambulance, which chronicles the strain put on the NHS and emergency services. Last night’s episode focused on the extremely distressing calls employees have to deal with as part of their role working in the call centre. It showed the operator answering the call of the desperate man, whose first words to the employee was “I’ve killed my wife”.

He said: “She can’t walk. She’s incontinent, and I can’t cope. So I’ve killed her.”

Tragically, the man, later named as 84-year-old Lawrence Franks following a trial, begged police not to use sirens because there was a little girl’s birthday party going on in the house next door he did not want to ruin it.

Franks added: “She’s dead, that’s all you need to know.”

Franks was convicted of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility at a later trial that sent shockwaves up and down the country.

He was given a suspended sentence of two years for the killing, which was dubbed an “act of mercy” by the judge.

Sentencing, the judge said: “She was particularly anxious not to be placed in a care home, and this was said so repeatedly that this was a genuine concern. But as her health deteriorated, the burden of looking after her became even harder for you.

“You did not cope with that any longer and as you say it that was the inevitable prospect of her being moved into a care home. That was the last thing you or your wife wanted.

“She was completely unaware of what happened to her. There was an abnormality in your mental function.

Doctors have confirmed this was diminished responsibility. You are a man on hitherto entirely good character.

“These are extraordinary circumstances and you have extreme personal mitigation. The killing of your wife was an unlawful act and the court must remember the importance of the sanction of human life must never be undermined.

“But you are of good character and there was a lack of premeditation. The act was a spur of the moment and your genuine belief this was an act of mercy.”