Philip Polkinghorne at day 1 of his trial for the murder of his wife at the High Court at Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Philip Polkinghorne was found not guilty of murdering of his wife, Pauline Hanna, after a nine-week trial ending in September 2024.
Here's how the case - and Polkinghorne's later sentencing on methamphetamine charges - unfolded.
2021
4 April: Pauline Hanna, 63, spends her last evening alive at the $4 million Remuera home she shares with now retired eye surgeon husband Philip Polkinghorne.
He would tell police he went to bed at 10pm and that he and his wife slept in separate rooms.
He would also tell police it was an ordinary evening, with the couple having dinner and drinks and talking before Hanna watched Netflix.
5 April: Pauline Hanna is found dead in the entrance way of the Upland Road home.
Polkinghorne says he woke up around 6am, reading in bed before making his way downstairs about 8am to make tea and toast.
He then finds Hanna slumped in a chair.
Polkinghorne calls 111 at 8:07am.
After accompanying police to the station to make a statement, he leaves and shortly afterwards, at 5:20pm he googles "how to delete icloud", three times.
Police and forensic scientists will spend the next 11 days at the scene.
On the afternoon Hanna died, escort Madison Ashton sent Polkinghorne a link of an image of herself in a swimsuit and speaks about making lamb shanks for her children, which police believe refers to her chihuahua dogs.
13 April: St John receives a police request for 111 call data from 5 April at the couple's Remuera home.
That audio will eventually be played during the trial in which the voice of Polkinghorne tells the operator "My wife's dead, she's hung herself".
15 April: The funeral for Pauline Hanna is held at Parnell's St Mary's.
Polkinghorne is in contact with Ashton including on the day of his wife's the funeral, discussing setting up house with her.
Polkinghorne has been in contact with Ashton since at least 2019, including smoking P with her.
16 April: Polkinghorne is visited at a St Heliers address by Detective Andrew Reeves who has a search warrant to seize the eye surgeon's phones.
Data from the phone showed no messages before 5 April - the day of Hanna's death.
Detective Reeves told the court there was a number of deleted internet searches on Polkinghorne's phone.
The Remuera home is released back from police who have finished its forensic investigation and handed back over to the family.
17 April: Polkinghorne accesses the website DuckDuckGo, a search engine designed not to be traceable.
But Polkinghorne went through Safari and therefore left a trail.
The search was "leg edema after strangulation".
23 April: Polkinghorne and Ashton plan a trip to Mt Cook and on 30 April, 13 days after his wife's funeral and 25 days after her death the pair go on holiday to a luxury lodge in the South Island.
2022
16 August: The then 69-year-old Polkinghorne is charged with murder 16 months and 11 days after wife Pauline Hanna was found dead in their home, he pleads not guilty when he appears in the Auckland District Court.
He is released on bail to await trial.
In a statement released through his lawyer at the time of his arrest, Polkinghorne expressed his "shock" at being charged.
"I have recorded that I am not guilty immediately. Now that the Police have charged me the matter is before the courts and I am not permitted to comment further," he said.
"The justice process must now run its course and I trust the truth will be shown. I thank my family and friends for their enduring love and support."
His bail conditions include that he choose one of his two homes as his primary residence and he stays either there or at his mother's house, he surrenders his passport, he abides by a 10pm to 6am curfew, he not purchase or consume illegal drugs and has no contact with Crown witnesses.
2024
29 July: The murder trial of Philip Polkinghorne begins at the High Court in Auckland presided over by Justice Graham Lang. A jury of nine women and three men is empanelled to hear the case. Dozens of witnesses will be called including paramedics, police officers, work colleagues of Polkinghorne and friends and family of Hanna.
On the first day of the trial, Polkinghorne pleads guilty to two charges that up until the day of the trial had been suppressed - possession of the class A drug methamphetamine and possession of a pipe, at the time his wife died.
The Crown opens its case, alleging Polkinghorne strangled his wife and then staged her death as a suicide. It argues he was living a double life, obsessed with meth and in a covert relationship with Ashton.
The defence makes its opening statements, arguing the couple's relationship and sex lives were open and there is nothing unexplained about Hanna's death - and no pathology evidence of a homicide. Hanna, the defence says, was exhausted by work related stress and had a history of mental health issues.
31 July: Sergeant Christian Iogha tells the court an hour after police were called to the Remuera home they deemed the scene as suspicious after they tested tension on the rope said to be used by Hanna. He said he looked for a suicide note but couldn't find one. He didn't believe the rope found could have sustained Hanna's weight.
1 August: A police officer who was at the scene hours after Hanna was reported dead tells the court there was no proof of the body being moved from her bedroom but the state of the couple's bedroom was odd. The officer says the bedroom where Philip Polkinghorne said his wife last slept, was left in a dishevelled state and there was a suspected blood stain on the bed, which the Crown alleged shows signs of a struggle.
5 August: A forensic scientist for the Crown tells the court two days after Hanna was found dead, she wrote in her notes after a police briefing that the death was being treated as a homicide and the suicide had potentially been staged. But Fiona Matheson told the court she still kept an open mind as to the cause of death throughout the examination of the Remuera home over the following days.
6 August: Forensic scientist Helen Poulsen lists the drugs found in Hanna's system, including Zopiclone, a sleeping drug, fluoxetine, an anti-depressant, and phentermine, a diet drug, were found alongside alcohol in her blood. She says there is no evidence that Hanna has used methamphetamine up to six months before her death.
7 August: The three hour police recording of the interview with Polkinghorne is played. The jury hears Polkinghorne say he has no idea how he received a scrape to his forehead.
9 August: The jurors, lawyers and judge leave the courtroom to visit the home where Hanna died. Justice Graham Lang waits outside the Remuera home while the jury goes inside, they spend about 20 minutes in the home.
13 August: Forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha from Auckland City Hospital examined Hanna's body on 6 April. He tells the court ultimately, the evidence couldn't rule out either suicide or strangulation. "I don't prefer one over the other," Kesha said. "I cannot rule out one over the other."
14 August: The court hears from Hanna's family friends, John and Pheasant Riordan, who said Hanna told them Polkinghorne had tried strangling her in 2020 and told her he could do it again, any time.
21 August: A forensic accountant working for the police tells the court Polkinghorne transferred nearly $300,000 to six different women - three of which were sex workers, including high-profile Sydney escort Madison Ashton. He also made cash withdrawals totalling nearly $241,000 in New Zealand.
Meanwhile, four months before Hanna's death, the forensic accountant determined she opened a bank account and took out two loans for $2000 - the money was spent on petrol, groceries, clothing and other personal spending.
30 August: Polkinghorne arrives to court flanked by his three sons, as he prepares to hear his lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC open the defence argument. The defence's first witness is the younger sister of Pauline Hanna, Tracey Hanna. She tells the court that Pauline had told her she had attempted suicide in the early 1990s. The Crown challenges Hanna on her evidence, casting doubts on the suicide claims with the sister conceding she did not know of Polkinghorne's drug use.
2 September: A United States forensic specialist tells the court a mark on the stairs at his home was the accused man's blood. His tesitmony contradicts earlier evidence from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) that no blood was found at the spot in question. The Crown says the sample could have been contaiminated.
6 September: Australian pathologist, Dr Stephen Cordner, hired to testify for the defence tells the court he would have confidently ruled Pauline Hanna's death a suicide had he been responsible for the case. Under cross examination he is not as equivocal.
11 September: Justice Lang dishcarges one of the 12 jurors for personal reasons, the trial continues with a jury of 11, made up of eight women and three men.
12 September: A psychiatrist for the defence, Dr David Menkes, tells the court an "array" of suicide risk factors, including the combination of medication and alcohol, were present the night before Pauline Hanna died.
16 September: Crown closing address begins saying this was a case of murder, that Pauline Hanna was not suicidal on the night of 4 April 2021. The closing takes a full day of court, going past the usual 5pm court hours.
17 September: The Crown finishes its closing argument in the morning, with defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC beginning his case a short time later. Mansfield tells the court says the pathology and forensic evidence in the case provides the answer as to what happened to Pauline Hanna, that she died by suicide. He says a murder has not been committed.
18 September: Ron Mansfield resumes the defence's closing argument. Mansfield tells the court not to let details around Polkinghorne's methamphetamine use or relationships to sex worker mask the good person he was. He said Hanna committed suicide, and that Polkinghorne was wrongly blamed as the villain. At 2pm Justice Lang begins his summary and instructions to the jury. He tells the jury they must set aside sympathy when considering their verdict. He said the jury should focus only on the evidence provided in court.
19 September: The jury was returning to the High Court in Auckland to start deliberations. Jurors were revisiting two pieces of audio evidence - a secret recording of Hanna and Polkinghorne's call to emergency services.
23 September: A jury finds Polkinghorne not guilty of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna. He showed no emotion as the verdict was read out. The verdict, read out by the foreman, was heard in silence in the courtroom. Outside the court, Polkinghorne called the verdict a "huge turning point". "This process has taken a massive toll on so many of us. But now we can grieve and let Pauline rest in peace. That is the best gift we can possibly give her."
1 November: Polkinghorne is sentenced to 150 hours of community work for drug possession. He pleaded guilty in July to two charges of possessing methamphetamine and a pipe. The retired ophthalmologist had 37 grams of methamphetamine, worth over $13,000, hidden throughout his Remuera home. He was charged in August 2022. During the murder trial, the jury heard that methamphetamine testing was carried out at Polkinghorne's workplace, the Auckland Eye ophthalmology clinic. It revealed concerningly high levels of the drug, suggesting it had been used there.
