Philip Polkinghorne at day 1 of his trial for the murder of his wife at the High Court at Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Warning: This story contains mention of a potential suicide.
The personal trainer for Philip Polkinghorne and Pauline Hanna says Hanna suspected her husband had a girlfriend.
Polkinghorne, 71, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Pauline Hanna in 2021 and staging her death to look like a suicide.
Barry Payne, the couple's personal trainer for many years, told the High Court in Auckland he had been training Polkinghorne for about 15 years and Hanna for eight years.
The couple didn't train together - but that wasn't unusual for couples, Payne said.
Sometimes Payne would train the couple one after the other and said they generally seemed "quite fond of each other".
"Pauline and I were good friends, but we didn't talk much about her personal life, mainly more small talk."
Payne said there was one time Hanna mentioned she thought her husband had a girlfriend, but he ignored it not wanting to get involved in their personal life.
'She's gone, she's dead'
Payne said Polkinghorne called him on Easter Monday 2021, which he thought was strange as he normally texted.
"When I answered, he said: 'She's gone, she's dead.' Philip sounded pretty distraught.
"I was stunned and didn't know how to respond - I asked what had happened and he just said she's gone."
Payne noted that he believed Polkinghorne had sounded "heartbroken" on the phone call.
Prosecutor Pip McNabb, asked Payne about Hanna's mood during their sessions and he mentioned her mum had died recently but she "seemed to be handling it okay".
"She could be a little moody or grumpy at times but I never saw her breaking down unhappy, no".
During cross-examination by Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, Payne said Hanna had been "working hard" on her Covid-19 work and often had to rush away to take phone calls.
"She did look quite stressed...run down I would say".
In terms of Polkinghorne's drug use, Payne said he didn't see any signs of it and hadn't suspected anything. The Crown has previously said Polkinghorne was a heavy meth user.
Unlike the family friend who took the stand on tuesday, Stephen MacIntyre, Payne said he did not notice a behavioural change.
He was not manic, didn't "turn into a weirdo" and was not erratic, Payne said.
Mt Cook chalet police raid
After Hanna's death, Polkinghorne and his girlfriend Madison Ashton, travelled to the South Island to stay at Mt Cook Lakeside retreat.
Ashton is an Australian sex worker.
Detective Senior Sergeant Lisa Jane Anderson, was involved with a police raid at the property on 30 April, 2021.
Police were there to seize Asthon's phones.
Anderson said the phones had been pin protected, and Ashton declined to give the pin numbers.
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