Philip Polkinghorne murder trial live updates: Messages reveal defendant was discussing new life with escort girlfriend days after wife’s death
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
“Darling you and I aren’t going anywhere. We are going to last 100 years.”
Those words of love and assurance, sent to Sydney escort Madison Ashton from Dr Philip Polkinghorne less than three weeks after his wife’s suspicious death, were read aloud today as jurors returned to the High Court at Auckland for the fifth week of the Auckland eye surgeon’s murder trial.
The jury was also shown data from Pauline Hanna’s phone suggesting she might have been contemplating leaving the defendant three months before her death.
Polkinghorne, now 71, is accused of having fatally strangled Hanna, 63, inside their Remuera home before staging the scene on April 5, 2021, to look like a suicide by hanging. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have insisted through the first four weeks of cross-examining witnesses that suicide is the best explanation for his wife’s death.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER LIVEBLOG:
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield says Polkinghorne's wife died "in the early hours of the morning" on April 5, before the web searches. Polkinghorne
made his first statement to police at his home that morning in Remuera before a much longer interview with a detective at the police station in the city.
At the end of that interview, police told him they were treating his wife's death as suspicious and he was a person of interest.
So, Mansfield asks, at time of the searches on the afternoon of April 6, the doctor knows he is viewed as a potential suspect?
Correct, says Reeves.
"And strangulation, that would include hanging, correct?" asks Mansfield.
The prosecutors object.
Mansfield asks that if Polkinghorne was a suspect in his wife's death, the allegation would be that he had strangled her?
Reeves is not sure, but Mansfield says it logically follows.
He asks if Reeves knows what leg edema is?
It's a swelling of the legs, is the reply.
But there's no search about what someone might look like after strangulation before Hanna's death on April 5, correct?
Reeves: "I could not see a search like that in the data that I saw."
Court to resume in the morning
Helen Van Berkel
Detective Andrew Reeves will return to the witness box at 10am tomorrow for more cross-examination from Ron Mansfield KC. Only a couple of Crown witnesses are left to go.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield produces a document titled "fishing knots 101", which he says the defence found on the internet. It shows various different knots for use in soft bait fishing.
Mansfield asks if Reeves ever went to the Polkinghorne bach in Rings Beach, Coromandel. Reeves says he did not.
"Are you aware that Rings Beach is a good spot for fishing?" Mansfield asks.
"Yes," says Reeves.
Why did the detective not say in his evidence that the photos were of fishing knots, and that they dated from 2012?
Reeves says he did not knowingly omit the information, and had merely included them as part of the results of his searches of Polkinghorne's devices for terms such as knots.
Justice Lang calls an end to the day.
Court will resume at 10am tomorrow.
Back to the knots
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks about images of knots Reeves earlier said were found on one of Polkinghorne's hard drives.
The defence was given images that did not have a year or date, Mansfield says.
Reeves says the knot image dated from 2019 but agrees when Mansfield says he was told the date was actually January 2012.
Reeves apologises and says the screenshot of the knots was taken or added to the device on January, 1, 2012, at 3.56pm.
Mansfield asks what sort of knots they were. Reeves says he doesn't know.
"It's pretty obvious, let's have a look," Mansfield says.
Knot photos found in Polkinghorne's USB stick were fishing knots dating from 2012, says lawyer
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield produces a document and asks: "Are there not three images of different types of knots?"
"There are," Reeve replies.
A separate image says where they were from, which was the softbaits.co.nz website.
So those knots you decided might be relevant, says Mansfield, sounding incredulous as his voice rises, were not only from 2012 but also related to fishing?
Correct, said Reeves.
"I can confirm they are fishing knots, yes."
The funeral arrangements
Helen Van Berkel
For example, Mansfield says, Polkinghorne could not organise the funeral arrangements because of the police investigation?
Reeves recalls messages asking for help with jewellery and an address.
Mansfield says that's because police chose to correspond with Bruce Hanna, Pauline's brother, rather than acknowledging Polkinghorne and his children as next of kin.
The defence lawyer says Tracey Hanna then asked to be treated as next of kin.
Mansfield says the family initially could not access the house to get one of Hanna's dresses because of the police investigation, but were able to get in and get a dress at the last moment.
Helen Van Berkel
One message refers to Julie-Anne Kincade, a lawyer, Reeves says.
Mansfield asks if, after the initial articles about the investigation and Polkinghorne being a "person of suspect", the only person other than immediate family corresponding with the doctor was Ashton.
Reeves recalls numerous messages from Tracey, Pauline Hanna's sister who lived in the UK, but Mansfield says he is talking about friends, work colleagues and the like.
"It basically dried up, didn't it?" Mansfield asks.
"I can't recall," Reeves says.
Helen Van Berkel
Ashton then says in a later message: "It was very brave of you to change lawyers".
Mansfield asks if Reeves is aware that when Polkinghorne was asked if he wanted a second autopsy now that he was a "person of suspect", that he initially consulted lawyer David Jones?
Reeves isn't aware.
There is further discussion of other potential New Zealand lawyers.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield says there seems to be further messaging from Ashton, trying to get Polkinghorne to secure the services of her lawyer, Zali Burrows.
Does Reeves accept this? Mansfield asks.
The detective initially does not answer, then says: "Ms Ashton is giving Dr Polkinghorne advice".
Ashton was messaging other men
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield refers to an April 19 message where Ashton tells Polkinghorne she's spoken to her lawyer and says: "Yesterday you missed an opportunity to just completely bulldoze their whole narrative".
Reeves can't recall what that message is in relation to.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield returns to his point that Ashton was communicating with other men in a manner similar to her chats with Polkinghorne.
"From the messaging I saw, I didn't see her saying 'I love you' as much to other men," says Reeves.
"It's part of the marketing, it's part of the service she's providing," says Mansfield.
Reeves says Polkinghorne refers to Ashton in one of the messages he's disclosed.
Covid and lockdowns
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks about MIQ and lockdowns, and the fact that Polkinghorne's son Ben had to go into MIQ to travel to New Zealand for the funeral. He also suggests it would have been hard for Polkinghorne to travel to Australia in this period.
Helen Van Berkel
From that point on, Mansfield asks, was there at least some response to Ashton's questions after his silence to previous inquiries?
Correct, says Reeves.
But are there still tranches of persistent messaging from her where there is no response from him? Mansfield asks.
A long pause. "Ms Ashton appears to send multiple messages over a few hours, yes," Reeves says.
Mansfield asks if Reeves knew about Ashton's property holdings, including two apartments in Sydney and a third property in Melbourne.
Were you aware she was seeking to relocate her services as a base from Sydney to Melbourne? the lawyer asks.
"I don't recall that," Reeves says.
Mansfield says Ashton's base, from which she would tour Australia, moved from Sydney to Melbourne.
Earlier, the court heard evidence of discussions about a Sydney apartment sale between Polkinghorne and Hanna.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if Ashton's communications became persistent and regular.
"She sends messages of support, yes," the detective says.
Mansfield asks if she had known Polkinghorne and Hanna for six years.
Reeves says Polkinghorne did but is unsure about Hanna, beyond the 2015 appointment they made together with Ashton.
"You're not sure, or you don't want to acknowledge her obvious involvement with Ms Ashton?" Mansfield asks.
Reeves says he's unclear.
"Well, you know that she was there at the very first meeting?" Mansfield persists.
Reeves eventually concedes Hanna had known of Ashton since 2015 and Ashton had given Polkinghorne support after his wife's death and news he had become a suspect.
Mansfield asks if she is one of the few who had had supported him, and Reeves says other family had also continued to support Polkinghorne.
After the Herald story, Ashton messaged "did you give an interview???" and "person of suspect?!"
Polkinghorne replies: "What do you think, not a chance".
A slew of messages
Helen Van Berkel
"So 20 messages shot out by Ms Ashton without a response by message from Dr Polkinghorne?" Mansfield notes.
Then she sends the Herald story, posted on Reddit, in which Polkinghorne said he was a "person of suspect".
Mansfield asks if Polkinghorne was told he was a person of interest after his interview on April 5, but Reeves is unsure.
Mansfield asks if, after the newspaper story saying a police investigation was ongoing into what appeared to be a suspicious death, and given everyone knew just Polkinghorne and Hanna lived at the Upland Rd property, Reeves noticed if messages from friends, family and work colleagues started to stop?
Reeves says he did not look into that.
Would people view Polkinghorne differently if he appeared to have become a suspect in the death? Mansfield probes.
Reeves says he can only assume so and agrees with Mansfield when he says: "Not everyone understands the presumption of innocence, correct?"
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield then refers to a message reading "three little guys" and including an image of Ashton's Chihuahuas. He asks if other clients were receiving pictures of her dogs, and herself in lingerie.
"I didn't focus on her other clients for privacy reasons," Reeves answers, but he believes they did receive some similar pictures.
Mansfield pushes the detective, who concedes other longstanding clients had become Ashton's friends, as had happened with Polkinghorne.
Mansfield refers to more than a dozen messages over several days to April 11, which Polkinghorne did not respond to.
Ashton says "please call" then "hire Zali" referring, Mansfield says, to Zali Burrows, her lawyer.
"It seems she involves herself in what legal counsel Dr Polkinghorne should have given the police investigation that's ongoing at that time," asks Mansfield.
There's no response to that message, Reeves confirms.
Helen Van Berkel
One message, around April 7, was a link to a Stuff article about the police investigation into Polkinghorne's death.
So we can agree, asks Mansfield, that at this point she knows about Hanna's death?
Reeves agrees.
In a further message on April 7, says Mansfield, about 9pm, a profile picture of Polkinghorne Ashton has found online is sent to him.
Reeves agrees that Polkinghorne's response is : "Oh goodness something has happened to me" and "phew".
Helen Van Berkel
Did the photos go to to "a number of other longstanding clients", Mansfield asks.
Reeves cannot recall.
"Ms Ashton appeared to have a few longstanding clients which she would send similar photos to," he says.
Helen Van Berkel
One is a photograph of "Ms Ashton in a pose", in Mansfield's words.
Is this just one of the publicity images Ashton sends to clients? asks Mansfield.
Reeves says she would take publicity photos then send them to Polkinghorne for review, along with other "longstanding clients".
There was no response from Polkinghorne.
Mansfield refers the witness to several similar messages, all of which received no response from his client.
Helen Van Berkel
The court resumes with defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC taking Detective Andrew Reeves through more WhatsApp messages between Madison Ashton and Philip Polkinghorne, taken from the eye surgeon's iPhone 12.
Helen Van Berkel
Justice Lang calls a 15-minute afternoon adjournment, slightly later than usual given the late start of the session.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield produces a document summary of WhatsApp messages from January 1 to April 4, 2021, the day before Polkinghorne reported Hanna dead.
Reeves says the messages were "scrambled" when they were extracted from Ashton's phone, so he couldn't make sense of them.
But he confirms he was able to see the date and time and direction of the scrambled messages, just not their contents.
There were 122 WhatsApp messages from Ashton to Polkinghorne, but the pair also used email, iMessage and SMS, Reeves adds.
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves confirms he looked at WhatsApp messages between Ashton and Polkinghorne before April 5. Earlier, he told the court messages before April 5 were missing from Polkinghorne's device but it appears they were still on Ashton's.
Helen Van Berkel
Now Mansfield makes his way through the minutiae of Ashton's booking calendar.
Helen Van Berkel
Did other messages show that Hanna would have been there with Polkinghorne and Ashton, Mansfield asks.
"I know of those messages," says Reeves, "I can't recall exactly what phone they were on."
Did some of those messages show requests for other sex workers to be included beyond Ashton as part of a "group sexual experience"? Mansfield asks.
The only evidence he saw of that was an invoice for a "male escort", called Jake Ryan, says Reeves.
Mansfield asks, and Reeves confirms, that Ryan is a male sex worker who, like Ashton, is prominent online.
Helen Van Berkel
One message from a PA to Ashton, read by Mansfield, shows Polkinghorne making a booking for a session involving two male sex workers along with Ashton, Polkinghorne and Hanna. "Sounds like an amazing time," the sex worker's PA says.
Helen Van Berkel
Did Reeves notice if Ashton had a number of men she would see "very frequently"? Mansfield asks.
"She communicated with a number of men frequently, yes," says Reeves.
"And those communications were ongoing by way of a professional relationship?" Mansfield asks.
"Correct," Reeves says.
Would some of those other men also have known her for many years? Mansfield asks.
"Some of the messaging did go back quite a few years, yes," Reeves says.
And had some of those messages with those other men also moved into more of an "informal friend" sort of texts, beyond bookings? Mansfield asks. "I suppose that might be seen as just good marketing, correct?"
"Yes," says Reeves.
Was she making those men, for want of a better word, feel special? asks Mansfield.
"She was friendly with them, yes," says Reeves.
Did Reeves see any bookings that clearly involved Mrs Polkinghorne? Mansfield asks.
Yes, the first one, says Reeves.
Mansfield asks if on the first occasion, in 2015, "Mr and Mrs Polkinghorne [how Mansfield refers to Pauline Hanna]" were both involved in the booking.
"That's what the booking told me, yes," says Reeves.
Helen Van Berkel
And the dates were advertised on her web page to enable her to make bookings? Mansfield asks.
Correct, says Reeves.
And did Reeves see correspondence between Polkinghorne and her PA in relation to bookings? Mansfield asks.
He did.
The next page shows what Ashton offers clients. First is the "Girlfriend Experience" and second is the "Pornstar Experience", says Mansfield.
Correct, says the detective.
Earlier, the jury heard the first contact between Polkinghorne and Ashton was when he booked a girlfriend experience for $800 in 2015.
Does Reeves know the difference between the experiences offered? Mansfield asks.
"No, not beyond what's on the webpage," the detective says.
Mansfield then refers to her rates: $750 for 30 minutes, $4000 for four hours, and $1000 for each additional hour after that.
When the police seized Ashton's phone from the Mt Cook lodge on April 30, 2021, could they could get into the devices? Mansfield asks.
Yes, Reeves says.
Earlier, the trial heard Ashton did not give police her pass codes.
Mansfield asks how many contacts /clients did police find on phone – was more than 300?
Reeves says he would have to check but confirms many clients were in her phone under their full names.
Quite often, Reeves says, one of her phones was used by her assistant, who would make bookings and booking-type communications for her.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield produces a statement taken from Christine McQueen aka Madison Ashton's website, which a registrar hands to the jury.
The first page is a screen grab from the homepage, Mansfield says.
The second page shows how she brands herself, while the third page is called "upcoming tour dates", says Mansfield.
That was referred to in messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna during an at-times testy conversation read to the jury earlier.
"And so as a sex worker, she would travel between the various cities, it seems internationally, to work as a sex worker, correct?" Mansfield asks.
"Correct," says Reeves.
Helen Van Berkel
Did Reeves have a particular interest in looking for communications between Polkinghorne and Ashton? Mansfield asks the detective.
"I was, yes, directed to focus on those communications." Reeves says.
He confirms he was able to verify Ashton had worked as a professional sex worker for quite some time.
Mansfield asks if she had previously earned "some notoriety" in Australia for court cases there.
"I did see some articles relating to that," Reeves replies.
Were they relating to Ashton seeking financial compensation from men she asserted she was in a de facto relationship with?
Reeves believes he saw one along those lines.
"Some wealthy Australian male?" Mansfield presses.
"Yes," says Reeves.
Mansfield asks if, as part of the investigation, police were listening to communication between Polkinghorne and others.
"I wasn't involved in that part of the operation," Reeves replies.
"But are you aware of that, is what I asked," Mansfield insists.
"Vaguely, yes," Reeves says, and accepts he believes police were intercepting calls between Polkinghorne and others, including Ashton.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if police had released Polkinghorne's home back to him on April 16 when police seized the phone.
"I don't recall," says Reeves.
Earlier, the trial heard police spent many days at the home in Upland Rd, Remuera, where Polkinghorne and Hanna lived.
Mansfield then asks Reeves about Madison Ashton: did she use the "stage name" Christine McQueen?
Reeves says she did and confirms Ashton was a sex worker.
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves says it depended on the passcode as to whether it was easy or difficult for the digital forensic unit to access the phone.
But after he took photographs of the phone while keeping the screen active, the digital forensic unit was able to get into the device.
An iPhone puts a layer of encryption on the contents when a phone's screen is switched off, Reeves says. They did not lock the phone and were able to get the data off it in the end.
He also followed advice to take photographs of the phone because the digital forensic unit wasn't confident of getting into it. But they were able to easily in the end, he said.
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves says he took the phone to the police digital forensic unit and asked them to try to download its contents.
"They told me it would potentially not work and their suggestion was to do a manual screen capture by taking photographs of the phone before attempting to download the data."
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if Reeves could have gone into the phone and turned off the requirement for a password.
Reeves says he tried, but was unsuccessful because that setting asked for a password. He tells Mansfield he was with Polkinghorne at the time and did not ask him to use facial recognition to try to unlock the phone.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if Reeves was aware Polkinghorne and Hanna had a number of devices and had previously lost several.
Reeves says he was.
So although the PINs didn't work, he opened the phone and you took it away? asks Mansfield.
Correct, says Reeves.
Helen Van Berkel
He confirms Polkinghorne would usually use facial recognition rather than entering a code. Earlier, the trial heard Polkinghorne gave several pins, but none worked, and Reeves says he had to keep the phone active for a couple of days to extract all the data.
Helen Van Berkel
Polkinghorne's cellphone was seized from him on April 16, 2021, Reeves confirms.
Mansfield asks if the detective is aware Pauline Hanna's funeral was the day before.
Reeves says he was.
Was Polkinghorne asked to make his phone available voluntarily before police used a search warrant to seize the phone? Mansfield asks.
Reeves is not aware of any such request.
Was that to preserve the element of surprise, asks Mansfield, so Polkinghorne could not remove data?
Reeves is not sure.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if reports made from clones of mobile phones are made available to the defence.
Reeves explains he had no involvement in initial disclosures, but helped in further disclosure recently.
The software makes data taken off the phone look similar to how it would appear on the device when he views it on a police laptop.
Helen Van Berkel
Cloning the device, Reeves confirms, allows detectives to work on copies while preserving the original phone for evidential purposes.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield gets the afternoon session under way by asking Detective Andrew Reeves if he has been involved in the inquiry from close to its start.
Reeves confirms he was involved since April 9, seven days before he seized Polkinghorne's phone.
He tells Mansfield he is "mainly an investigator" and doesn't have an IT qualification.
How long has he been in the police, Mansfield asks.
Reeves says eight years.
What about before police, asks Mansfield, did Reeves work in IT then?
He did not, Reeves says.
He says he has done "online courses in terms of phone downloading".
The company Cellebrite, which produces software to help police analyse and clone electronic devices, has online courses, which he has completed, he tells Mansfield.
The trial resumes
Helen Van Berkel
The trial is about to resume with the cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves by Ron Mansfield KC.
Reeves offered a large amount of evidence from Polkinghorne and Hanna's electronic devices on Friday afternoon and this morning. This, combined with the length of Mansfield's earlier cross-examinations, suggests the defence lawyer will be on his feet most of the afternoon, at least, questioning the detective.
What else will he draw out of the detective? The Herald's live coverage, observing a 10-minute delay, will begin shortly.
Court adjourns for lunch
Vera Alves
Court has now adjourned until 2.30pm, when defence lawyer Ron Mansfield will begin his cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves regarding the contents of phones, laptops and USB drives seized by police.
111 call-taker takes the witness stand
Vera Alves
The Crown has called Nathan Brooks, who is wearing a green St John uniform.
He was a 111 call-taker for St John, but is now a dispatcher, he tells prosecutor Brian Dickey.
A transcript of the 111 call by Polkinghorne is being handed to the jury.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is beginning his cross-examination.
He is asking about the training Brooks received.
"Do you have some programme available to you as well or do you have to rely on your training and experience?" Mansfield asks.
Brooks says they have software which assists them in asking questions, and there are structured questions for every incident such as hangings.
Words such as "we're coming as quickly as we can" are reassurance statements, he says.
Brooks took the 111 call from Polkinghorne on the morning of April 5, 2021.
He says the instruction to cut the person down immediately is generated by the automatic software service.
Mansfield asks if that's to increase survivability. Brooks says that's right.
Brooks told Polkinghorne, after telling him to cut her down, to loosen any noose.
Polkinghorne then told him: "I'm a doctor, I know she's dead."
Mansfield asks if he knew what the time of hanging was. Brooks asks what he means.
Mansfield asks if he goes into any detail in relation to the hanging itself. Brooks says they do not. That ends the cross-examination.
Police believe Polkinghorne deleted WhatsApp messages
Vera Alves
Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey is finishing his questions and asks again about the first message on Polkinghorne's WhatsApp on his phone on April 5, 2021, the day he reported his wife dead shortly after 8am.
He used WhatsApp at 11.29am, his phone logs show, but the first WhatsApp message police could find on his phone when they seized it was dated 4.28pm on April 5.
Earlier in his evidence, Detective Andrew Reeves said directly he believes WhatsApp messages were likely deleted.
That finishes the evidence-in-chief of Reeves, who will be cross-examined by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield this afternoon.
Polkinghorne's sister planned to meet Madison Ashton – detective
Vera Alves
The last message between them was on April 28.
Two days later, police would visit them at the Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat and seize Ashton's phones.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey asks if he has a message indicating Ashton had met Polkinghorne's sister.
Detective Andrew Reeves says he does, and refers to his laptop. It's an instant message from Polkinghorne to Ashton's Christine McQueen account (her alias).
The first message was on January 3, 2019 at 9.39pm.
Polkinghorne says: "Hi... my sister is going to be in Sydney on the 15th of May. She is keen to meet up with Madison." It goes on to ask for a date and time that suits.
He later says "F*** this is a big step".
Trial resumes with focus still on Polkinghorne and Ashton's messages
Vera Alves
Detective Andrew Reeves is still on the messages between escort Madison Ashton and Polkinghorne. Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey is leading the questioning.
They are messaging after 2am, about the Sydney property.
In one message, Ashton says: "I love you but sometimes you talk to me like a baby and I don't like it."
Polkinghorne replies: "You aren't a baby but sometimes you put yourself at a disadvantage" and says she can ignore his advice.
Ashton then says "most definitely will ignore".
Later messages show Polkinghorne and Ashton messaging about details for their planned trip to the Mt Cook Village lodge where police found them on April 30.
Polkinghorne says he's had to "make a few exec decisions on how to get to the lodge". There's no bus when they need to get up to the accommodation and he didn't feel like going on a horse, he says.
Ashton asks if there's a gym. Polkinghorne says yes, and also massages and an outdoor hot tub.
"God is being a bit iffy about arranging the snowfall, you aren't related by any chance?" Polkinghorne writes.
He later says there'll be no chance for an any activities like skiing or bungee jumping, saying: "It's going to be all about us, get used to it."
Ashton then says she's trying to work out what to pack and asks if it's posh. Polkinghorne replies with some pictures.
Ashton writes: "I love that fact that rural New Zealand isn't bursting at the seams with critters or things that can kill you."
She goes on to say that 14 months is a long time in any relationship not to be at each other's side.
Polkinghorne replies, saying they will see how they go. "There many be commonality or there may be not."
Ashton says "sounds like you are breaking up with me what the f***?"
Polkinghorne replies: "f**k no, Christ, never."
Further messages are mundane, focusing heavily on her three Chihuahua dogs.
Ashton says "I'm dying for you to meet Chanel" (presumably one of her dogs).
Judge explains reason behind delay
Vera Alves
Justice Graham Lang explains to the jury he was just talking to lawyers in chambers about how to proceed today.
The judge said defence lawyer Ron Mansfield had told the court he needs to print more documents to cross-examine Detective Andrew Reeves.
As a result, after this witness' evidence-in-chief finishes, the Crown will interpolate (sub in) another witness, before Reeves returns this afternoon for cross-examination.
Vera Alves
There is a brief delay in the trial resuming.
Vera Alves
Justice Lang calls the morning break. We will resume in 15 minutes.
Polkinghorne and Ashton discussed property in New South Wales
Vera Alves
On to April 25, when there's evidence of a call, and then Ashton sends Polkinghorne a link to a real estate website, Detective Andrew Reeves says.
The website relates to property in New South Wales.
Polkinghorne is then sent an address, it's a property in Millers Point, an inner-city suburb of Sydney.
"Interesting, something to talk about on Thursday," Polkinghorne says.
You and I are going to last 100 years, Polkinghorne told escort weeks after wife's death
Vera Alves
On April 23, at 11.36am, Ashton asks "any words on password police etc or Auckland Eye?"
Then she asks him "have you started your PR offensive?" and Polkinghorne replies he's getting a briefing that afternoon. It's not clear from who or what about.
Then Ashton asks if they are meeting at Christchurch or Queenstown as she's having a "senior moment".
Ashton later messages, saying "if you passed away I wouldn't leave the house ever again".
Polkinghorne replies saying "darling you and I aren't going anywhere, we are going to last 100 years".
Further messages between Polkinghorne and Ashton revealed in court
Vera Alves
At 5.07pm on April 17, Ashton messaged Polkinghorne "hey". She then sends a photo of herself and sends further messages referencing his grandchild.
Ashton then talks about a court application he could make to get his passport back from police.
Polkinghorne says he's got a meeting with his lawyer regarding that.
Detective Andrew Reeves says he understood Polkinghorne was making an application around that time to get his passport.
This was more than a year before he was charged with murder.
Subsequent messages mostly relate to Ashton's dogs.
Then Ashton sends some attachments and Polkinghorne replies, saying she is going to be "more than sensational", referring to a plastic surgery procedure she is set to receive , saying it will "drive a tsunami of lust".
Ashton replies with a love emoji.
Later, Polkinghorne sends a message to Ashton, saying words to the effect that there are no images or pictures on either phone.
There are further enthusiastic messages from Polkinghorne in response to images Ashton has sent him. "Do I detect a certain fullness in the chest area," one reads.
More pictures of Ashton and her Chihuahuas ensue. And more enthusiastic replies from Polkinghorne. This is about 15 days after his wife's death.
A further message from Ashton to Polkinghorne said: "Darling because you are not street smart I am going to have to call and have a chat".
She goes on to say: "Missed an opportunity to bulldoze the whole narrative."
Ashton said she had consulted with her lawyer.
This is several days after the Herald published a story where Polkinghorne said he was a "person of suspect" in his wife's death.
During this period, the pair continue to exchange images and videos.
Polkinghorne repeatedly sends messages gushing over Ashton's appearance.
Later, Ashton says to Polkinghorne: "It was very brave of you to change lawyers."
Polkinghorne knew Madison Ashton since at least 2015, trial hears
Vera Alves
Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey now moves Detective Andrew Reeves to the devices police seized from Australian escort Madison Ashton.
Police seized the devices on April 30 at the Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat, where Ashton and Polkinghorne were staying 25 days after his wife's death in 2021.
They were an iPhone 11 and 12. The police digital forensic unit managed to extract data from them.
Reeves says he reviewed messages and emails from the phones, alongside photos and videos.
"She has a large social media profile and uses the alias Christine McQueen," Reeves says.
Reeves says the first contact between Polkinghorne and Ashton on the phones dates from 2015.
There was an email document showing a payment of $800 and an appointment for a "one hour girlfriend experience". He doesn't have the exact date for this 2015 appointment, the earliest reference to Polkinghorne he could find.
Ashton saved a note in her contact book; it had Philip Polkinghorne as one of her contacts, with his home address in Remuera attached. A note from March 21, 2015 included a reference to a $5000 payment to Christine McQueen, her alias.
Reeves moves to the Whatsapp messaging between Polkinghorne and Aussie escort Ashton.
Reeves says he could find no WhatsApp messaging from the days before April 5, 2021 on his phone. But he did see that the WhatsApp application on Polkinghorne's phone had been used that morning, just before he had called police.
Reeves says there was extensive messaging between Ashton and Polkinghorne but it was in a "scrambled" form when police tried to recover the data. All the words were in the wrong order, he says.
Reeves says the messaging dated back to 2017.
None of the messages up to April 5, 2021 were readable. All were scrambled, the detective says.
After April 5, they recovered iMessages which were not scrambled.
"But before then, it was difficult to make sense of the scrambled messages," he says.
The iMessages between Ashton and Polkinghorne start April 17, 2021. Earlier, the trial heard police seized Polkinghorne's iPhone on April 16.
There are 183 pages of messages between the pair from this time. The first one shows an attachment sent from Polkinghorne to Ashton, on April 17, 2021.
There were a lot of "short movies" sent to Ashton, Reeves says. They commenced the contact but were not relevant to the investigation, he says.
Jury shown screenshots of Polkinghorne and Ashton's text messages
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Prosecutor Brian Dickey is moving on to what police found on Madison Ashton's phone.
To recap – police visited a Mt Cook Village lodge where Ashton and Polkinghorne were staying together, in a "Matariki Room" chalet, 25 days after Hanna's death.
They seized two phones from Ashton but she would not reveal the passcodes.
Before getting into Ashton's messages, Detective Andrew Reeves is going through photos he took of messages on Polkinghorne's phone to Ashton.
The messaging starts with Polkinghorne appearing to cancel his planned trip to Sydney to visit Ashton, due at least in part to MIQ, saying "it makes no sense to lock myself up in a quarantine facility for two weeks".
Ashton later angrily replies to another message, where Polkinghorne is asking about the escort's upcoming tour schedule, saying "stay off my social media" and "I'm sick of the misperceptions and you being an absolute a**hole about it".
"I don't want to spend two weeks with someone who can't even have a basic inquiry with me" and accuses him of "acting like a child".
Ashton goes on to say she is upset and disappointed in him.
Polkinghorne said he would reply when he is finished operating, in about 90 minutes.
The messaging is from December 8, 2020, and appears to show Polkinghorne abandoning plans to have Christmas with Ashton.
Ashton tells Polkinghorne he has a "gutter mentality" when it comes to her occupation but goes on to say he is "very loveable. Kind and patient, sex and many other attributes".
Pauline Hanna's phone's last known use
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Moving now to the activity, data stored by the phone about when it was used.
The phone records when it was physically moved, Detective Andrew Reeves says.
Hanna's phone was plugged in to charge at 10.47pm on April 4, 2021, coinciding with the step count ending.
The last activity was an orientation change around that time, indicating it could have been placed down after it was plugged in.
That is the phone's last known use.
Hanna messaged son-in-law about dinner the following night before her death
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Detective Andrew Reeves moves to the videos found on Pauline Hanna's iPhone.
They were of her grandchildren, family events and some that were work-related, he says.
Others were trailers for movies.
There were also videos of the plastic bag on carpet containing P pipes.
It's suggested these might be live images, essentially short videos taken as images by iPhones.
Messages of notes found on her phone included a text conversation between Hanna and her niece Rose.
Those messages were on December 19, 2019. To recap, this is just before the Christmas when Polkinghorne went missing for several days. Hanna had to lie to family about his whereabouts, the trial heard earlier. It later emerged he had gone on a personal development course instead of attending family Christmas.
He also found messages in December 2019 to the mental health crisis team.
They related to a conversation between Hanna and her doctor, Reeves says.
On April 3, 2021, Hanna sent a message to one of Polkinghorne's sons asking him to join them for dinner on the Monday night.
On the evening of April 4, 2021, the day before she was reported dead, she texted her niece at 6.06pm, saying "Hello Rosie does Jacob have a new number?"
Earlier, the trial heard Hanna had set a calendar event for the evening of April 5 for dinner with her husband.
Then Hanna sent a message to her niece and her partner saying she hoped they were having a good Easter, and wishing them and their child well.
She said she was working over the weekend in Auckland.
At 6.13pm, on April 4, 2021, she sent a message to Sharon Alabastro (who worked for Hanna as a project manager and who gave evidence earlier in the trial).
Hanna thanked Alabastro for her work in the preceding weekend and said she was keen to catch up with her.
She sent a subsequent message to Alabastro saying "omg you have done so much today" and going on to thank her again for her work.
Saved images of meth pipes found on Hanna's phone
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Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey refers Detective Andrew Reeves to a couple of images of particular note, relating to the searches on Christmas Eve 2020 regarding meth pipes and the appearance of the drug.
There were some saved images of meth and the glass pipes used to smoke it. Polkinghorne admitted two charges at the start of the trial relating to meth and a P pipe found in the home.
There was a photo on the phone of a shopping bag with two used meth pipes in a plastic bag, Reeves said.
A photo of a meth pipe that was taken with Pauline Hanna’s phone on Christmas Day 2020. It coincides, a detective has said, with web searches a day earlier for “P pipe” and “what does P look like”.
Pauline Hanna was looking online at Napier apartments for sale, detective says
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Among her searches, Pauline Hanna searched for apartments for sale in the Napier suburb of Ahuriri. Earlier, the trial heard some of her friends and family had urged her to leave Polkinghorne and return to the Hawke's Bay. Her friends, the Riordans, made that recommendation after she revealed her husband had placed his hands on her neck, they told the court earlier.
Another search was: "Is watching pornographic videos normal make [sic] behaviour".
In December 2020, she searched "P pipe" and "what does P look like" and "what sensation does P give you".
She also searched that month for the search term "asphyxia" and the day before for "anorgasmia".
Detective Andrew Reeves says he's not sure what the latter term means.
Dickey asks if anything was obtained from the asphyxia or anorgasmia searches.
Reeves says he couldn't find anything related to those two web searches, in terms of websites or downloads.
The detective says he found about 34,000 images and more than 1000 videos on her iPhone.
Most were pre-loaded generic images and cached images. Those images included emojis or system images, not just those taken by the phone, he says.
General themes of images included fashion, beauty, plastic surgery and Disney. There were no pornographic images found on the phone.
The detective says 20% of the images were taken by the camera. They included mainly photos of family, her grandchild, Polkinghorne with the grandchild and holiday snaps, the jury hears.
No searches relating to suicide found on Hanna's phone – detective
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The jury has returned and the fifth week of the Crown case resumes.
"Good morning, members of the jury. I trust you had a pleasant weekend," says Justice Graham Lang.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey rises to his feet to ask Detective Andrew Reeves, who is back in the witness box, about what applications were installed on Pauline Hanna's iPhone 8.
There were no covert applications installed on the phone, such as those capable of hiding data or deleting photos and videos. It was a routine set of apps.
Her iPhone had connected via Bluetooth to her Mercedes car system on April 4, 2021, the day before she was reported dead.
Reeves moves on to the 416 search items extracted from her phone.
There's no record of searches of self-harm, hanging, knot-tying or depression, says Reeves.
"In fact none of the searches on the phone related to suicide," Reeves says.
The last search was about 1pm on April 4.
One of the searches was for "struggle without end". But Reeves said that term was the same as a book by author and activist Ranginui Walker.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey says he wants to be clear about that in case it was misinterpreted.
Trial about to resume
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The trial is about to resume with Crown witness Detective Andrew Reeves. Lawyers and court stuff again had to push through a mob of more than 50 people, many with no connection to the case, who had thronged outside courtroom 11 early to secure a seat.
Reeves will continue to give evidence about what was found on Pauline Hanna's phone. Once the jury comes in evidence will resume and so too will the Herald's live coverage – with a 10-minute delay for legal reasons.
Polkinghorne arrives in court
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Philip Polkinghorne and his defence team, including Ron Mansfield KC (left), arriving at the Auckland High Court this morning.
‘Sharp end’ of trial approaches as Crown case enter fifth week and nears its end
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Welcome to the Herald’s live coverage of the first day of the fifth week of the murder trial of Philip Polkinghorne, the Remuera eye surgeon accused of killing his wife Pauline Hanna and staging the scene to look like a suicide. His defence is his wife hanged herself amid the pressure of her role in the Covid vaccine rollout. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is set to begin calling witnesses to support that contention this week.
At 10am, the Crown case will resume with Detective Andrew Reeves giving more evidence as to what police found on Hanna's phone. Just before the trial ended on Friday afternoon he revealed Hanna had set a calendar reminder for the night of April 5 for dinner with her husband, who reported her dead that morning.
On Friday, following an afternoon of more high-tempo evidence from a Crown witness, Justice Graham Lang addressed the jury.
"We're getting towards the tail end of the Crown witness list," the judge said.
He said the Crown case should finish early next week. The trial is set down for six weeks and this week will be the fifth.
"As far as I can tell, I think we are still on target," adding more would be known this week and then giving the jury of nine women and three men a direction.
“There's a long way to go so keep an open mind. Don't come to any conclusions at this stage, it's far too early for that, and again, just remember we're getting to the sharp end of the trial, so it's just absolutely essential you don't discuss this case with anyone over the weekend.”
At 10am, Reeves will return to the witness box to continue working through what police found on Hanna’s mobile phone.
Reeves said the final entry on a timeline police made of her phone’s activity was a calendar invite she had made for a meal with her husband – Philip John Polkinghorne – titled "dinner with PJP" saved for April 5, at 7pm. That morning, Polkinghorne called police a little after 8am to report his wife had hanged herself.
Most of the afternoon was devoted to Reeves revealing what police found on Polkinghorne’s devices. He said there were several saved images of knot-tying techniques on one of his many USB drives, alongside thousands of images of Australian escort Madison Ashton, whom he frequently messaged in the days after his wife’s death.
An analysis of his phone activity showed WhatsApp was used into the early hours of April 5. A little after 1am, his phone was placed into Airplane mode, meaning he would not be disturbed with notifications.
Airplane mode was switched off shortly after 8am and WhatsApp was used, but Reeves said his WhatsApp messages from April 5 or before had been deleted.
Other evidence offered by Reeves showed:
- Polkinghorne continually messaged escort Madison Ashton in the days after his wife's death, and messaged another sex worker. He appears at one stage to be discussing domestic life with Ashton. She also tells him what he should wear to Hanna's funeral, which he suggests did not go well.
- Polkinghorne deleted phone call logs three days after his wife's death.
- Detective Andrew Reeves initially strongly suggested, and then said directly, that WhatsApp messages from before April 5 had been deleted from the phone.
- When the Herald published comments from Polkinghorne to reporter Carolyne Meng-Yee in the days after the death in which the eye doctor said he was a “person of suspect”, Ashton messages “Person of suspect?!” and asks if he gave an interview. Polkinghorne replies “not a chance”.
- After his first police interview on April 5, the day he reported his wife dead, he searched the internet using Google for how to delete iCloud storage.
- The following day, he used a search engine meant to afford privacy, Duck Duck Go, to make another search. Police were able to recover it and show he searched for "leg edema after strangulation". An edema is swelling due to a build-up of fluid.
🎧 LISTEN | Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial
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STORY CONTINUES:
Prosecutors, who are nearing the end of their witness list, have presented a circumstantial case in which they have suggested the defendant was prone to angry outbursts due to methamphetamine use. They have suggested he might have killed Hanna as she confronted him over his exorbitant spending on sex workers or his “double life” with Ashton.
Jurors were given a glimpse into that alleged “double life” today as Detective Andrew Reeves, in the witness box since Friday, turned focus to messages between Ashton and the defendant.
On Polkinghorne’s phone, the detective could see that the defendant had used WhatsApp previously but there were no messages from him and Ashton prior to the day of Hanna’s death. Reeves said he later found hundreds of messages on Ashton’s phone, retrieved after police executed a search warrant at a Mt Cook chalet where the escort and Polkinghorne were staying. Most of the messages prior to Hanna’s death, however, were garbled when extracted by the police digital forensic team.
On April 19, Polkinghorne messaged Ashton about her plastic surgery: “You are going to be more sensational to augment that pretty special butt will create a new dimension. For you it will be as exciting as your first breast augmentation. For your business it will I bet drive a tsunami of lust and will monestise your body further but with you more in control. Last for me it will enable me to see a very happy woman and to be frank that’s what I care about, ok secondly I do get to f*** you endlessly.”
Later that day, the surgeon added: “No messages or pictures on either phone.”
The two continued to exchange other messages showing an intimate familiarity with each other, including plans to meet in New Zealand.
“If you passed away I wouldn’t leave the house ever again,” Ashton told Polkinghorne on April 23, to which he typed the reply: “Darling you and I aren’t going anywhere. We are going to last 100 years.”
Two days after that, at 1.36am, Ashton forwarded a link to a real estate listing for a property in New South Wales.
“Interesting something to think about on Thursday,” Polkinghorne responded 30 minutes later. “I am wide awake!!”
Later messages between the two showed them continuing to plan for the getaway at the Mt Cook chalet where police would find them together on April 30. Ashton asked if it was “posh” and if there was a gym, and he replied that he wanted it to be a surprise but would send photos.
“It’s going to be freezing but should be fun,” Polkinghorne wrote. “Do you fancy bungee jumping, wine tours skiing a glacier – well sorry you aren’t this trip, it’s going to be all about US Get used to it, scary though I hope we don’t f*** it up. Xx”
Ashton let on that they had been planning to meet for the past two months despite travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. They might not get on perfectly after being “bosses of our own domains” during the last 14 months of their distance “relationship”, she suggested.
Polkinghorne agreed they had both changed and suggested they see how it goes “with no big ambitions”.
“Okay sounds like you’re breaking up w th [sic] me what the f***,” Ashton responded.
Polkinghorne replied: “F*** no! Christ never, I am not trying to push you in any direction. I haven’t come this far to walk away.”
Without giving context in the WhatsApp message, Ashton asked: “Is this about what I brought up the other night, we don’t have to talk about it I flagged it that’s all. I respect that it’s an issue for you if you don’t wanna talk about it that’s fine too.”
Polkinghorne responded: “Darling I am happy to talk and listen about anything. I want you in my life period. But I am of course nervous after so long knowing how well you have done. In black times I wonder if you still need and want me. F*** lets not be morbid now just excitement go catching up. xx”
On Hanna’s phone, Reeves went through a series of web searches she made in the months prior to her death. Significantly, he said, there were no searches involving the terms self-harm, suicide, hanging, tying knots or depression. She did search, on January 9, for “matrimonial property and trust NZ” and “apartments for sale ahuriri Napier”.
A month earlier, on December 7, she had searched: “is watching pornographic videos normal make [sic] behaviour” and on Christmas Eve she conducted three back-to-back searches: “p pipe”, “what does p look like” and “what sensation does p give you??”. There were pictures, taken with her phone on Christmas Day, of two used meth pipes which appear to have been found in the couple’s home.
On December 29, she searched two terms that Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey asked the detective to direct jurors to: “asphyxia” and “anorgasnia”. The detective said he thought the second term was a misspelling of “anorgasmia”, a medical condition in which a person has difficulty achieving orgasm.
On April 3, she sent a message to one of her sons-in-law to invite him to dinner. The invite was for Monday, April 5, the same day her death was reported.
The detective finished his direct examination by the Crown just before jurors were dismissed for an extended lunch break. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC is expected to begin cross-examination later this afternoon when the trial continues, Justice Graham Lang said.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
The Herald will be covering the case in a daily podcast, Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, through The Front Page feed, or wherever you get your podcasts.