Philip Polkinghorne trial: Who was Pauline Hanna?

Monday, 23 September 2024

Larger than life, driven, determined and beautiful. Pauline Hanna was someone who thrived in a high-pressure public health job and loved her family and friends.

But what exactly happened in the early hours of Easter Monday 2021 inside the Remuera home she shared with Philip Polkinghorne is likely to remain a mystery forever.

Did Hanna tragically kill herself? Or did her husband kill her and stage it to look like suicide, as the Crown said. In the end, the jury found Polkinghorne not guilty of murder or staging the scene, as police had claimed.

The couple’s life was put under the spotlight during the last eight weeks. Hanna’s spending, emails and mental health were all a focus of the defence team, as well as her sex life being covered, in detail.

But Hanna was more than that. She was a loving sister and auntie, a proud and caring step-mother and grandmother, a cherished friend and dedicated colleague who threw herself into planning Auckland’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. She was immaculately dressed and a bit of a perfectionist.

When police walked up the steps to the home on the morning of Easter Monday, they assumed the man stood in front of them was the devastated husband and the woman laid out on the floor was a victim of suicide.

But it wasn’t long before police became suspicious.

While Polkinghorne was out in the garden telling a constable how he found his wife, another officer came up with “1-C” written on his hand - code for suspicious circumstances. This had come about after a detective put minimum tension on the rope tied to the balustrade and it fell to the ground.

“Things were not adding up,” Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock told jurors in closing arguments.

Hanna’s relationship with Polkinghorne

Hanna met her future husband at work. In an email found on his laptop from Hanna, titled “to the one I loved”, Hanna detailed a Blind Foundation Dinner the pair had attended and a subsequent dinner at chic Auckland restaurant The French Cafe.

On that night out, Polkinghorne took Hanna’s hand and her heart flipped.

“I was sold … and the rest is what we have … Philip is the first person in my life who loved me first … For that I have always been amazed and grateful and loved and warmed and done my utmost to return for the children.”

They would be a couple for about 30 years, until her death.

Communications between the pair in the year before Hanna died reveal the pair checked in on each others’ days, who was picking up groceries, what was for dinner and other everyday chat.

But an email Hanna wrote to herself in August 2018 appeared to document friction between them.

She’d written about not behaving in a way Polkinghorne had wanted and he was angry.

“All these years (27) did I get it wrong that he was the only person who truly loved me … I cannot live if that is the result that I got it wrong.”

According to emails found on their laptops, the relationship was rocky by the end of 2019.

It appeared Polkinghorne had sent a letter to Hanna in December that year, sometime before Christmas, which was presented in evidence.

“I have felt increasingly devoid in the last few months from our relationship. I feel, rightly or wrongly that I am a spectator rather than a participant,” his letter states.

Polkinghorne also went on to criticise Hanna’s spending in the letter.

The letter stated Polkinghorne had enrolled in a three-day course and would be at their Ring’s Beach bach near Matarangi after Christmas.

Whether Polkinghorne actually attended the course is unknown, but Customs records show he travelled to Sydney over Christmas that year..

Hanna replied to the letter, addressing it to “My Darling Philip”.

“I have read this email and re read it so many times and the devastation I feel that I appear to have let you down so badly. I am gutted you feel you cannot talk to me… I don't know what to say and I don't know how it happened.”

Hanna said she knew there’d been some “ugly times in the last 18 months” and said she’d attempted to take on board what he’d asked of her.

“I don’t wear my bodysuits other than to work, I strive to make you proud of my work effort/ethic…”

Hanna’s reply continued to talk about finances and address Polkinghorne’s critiques of her.

“I am sorry - you are everything to me and you have changed. I haven’t, but clearly I have not read your signals.”

Hanna asked if Polkinghorne wanted a divorce and to make that decision before January 31 so she could make arrangements.

“I am 62 in February and I do not have a range of options… Right now I feel very scared, confused, sad and incredibly lonely.”

The strangling incident

Getting emotional as she told the jury about the incident, witness Victoria “Pheasant” Riordan said It was while at a dinner with friends, towards the end of January 2020, that Hanna described how her husband had put his hands around her neck and said “I can do this any time”.

“She took that as a real threat that he might do that to her.”

Pheasant said Hanna had had a couple wines and “became quite agitated”.

Hanna had never shared anything about physical violence with them before.

“We knew there were problems and knew there were financial issues,” Pheasant said.

“We were really quite stressed and wanted her to leave [Polkinghorne] and then she backed away … I think she didn’t want to talk about it,” Pheasant said.

Riordan’s husband, John, also recalled the incident in his evidence.

“She said: ‘He tried to strangle me’,” John Riordan said.

“I just said to her ‘pack up your bags, you’re coming home with us’.”

Hanna told them Polkinghorne was remorseful and had told her it wouldn’t happen again.

“When she told us about the fact he’d shown great remorse I said ‘but if he’s done it to you once, he’ll do it to you again’ … You see this time and time again,” John said.

The prosecution said this was something which rang true 14 months later and ended up with Hanna’s death.

The Longlands recording

About a month before these letters were exchanged, Hanna was in Hawke’s Bay visiting her ill mother and was around at her brother Bruce’s place.

Rose Hanna, Pauline’s beloved niece, recorded a conversation that came to be known as the Longlands recording. She told the court she recorded the conversation as Pauline and Bruce Hanna were discussing their mother’s belongings and she wanted to ensure it was recorded for their sister, Tracey Hanna, in London.

This was the first time the court heard Hanna’s own words and her voice.

“So he goes off and screws women when he’s away and I take a very foul view of that and he hurts me and I know he loves me.

“I know he’s such a sex fiend and he videos it and I’ve got the videos … He’s really hurt me to the extent I’ve thought why am I living with him.”

Hanna’s niece expressed concern about her aunt living with Polkinghorne.

Pauline said Polkinghorne doesn't handle stress and is somebody who gets 'very very wound up'.

'I considered chucking myself off the bridge,' Hanna said.

Bruce said he didn't want that.

'I don’t either. But I love my husband. But he is somebody who is very angry with the world,' Hanna said.

Hanna repeatedly said she loved her husband, but questioned whether she can remain with him, while reassuring her family she’s not a “battered woman”.

“He does deserve me … I love him … I’m his brick and he is mine.”

'I am not going to put up with it until I’m 93. I’m not a doormat,' Hanna said.

Hanna explained Polkinghorne was under a lot of stress at Auckland Eye, but had never been violent with her.

“Please don’t think Philip is a beast, he’s not.”

One email from April 14, 2020, found on Hanna’s work laptop and sent to herself, said Polkinghorne had cooked a beautiful dinner that night and she loved him.

“I am never good enough despite my efforts - today is the 25th day in a row - but I am not adding any value I want desperately to tell someone and cry and ask for help but everyone seems to think I am amazing and does not want to know that I have foibles and failings.

'I must stand on my own two feet but I don't know if I have two feet or what they look like.

'So I have had 3 glasses of wine and a beautiful dinner thanks to PJP - but I don't know what to do with myself… So I will go to bed and not sleep. V. unusual for me - and it builds up - who knows what might follow.

'Have to tell someone even if no-one but God ever sees this. Pxxxx,“ the email read.

The Housewives of Middlemore

Much was made of Hanna’s workload by the defence team. Her late night and early morning emails were closely examined.

In the year and months leading up to her death, Hanna was working as the logistical lead for the Covid-19 vaccination response in Auckland. Something she was incredibly proud of, but had told Polkinghorne’s son and his partner, days before her death, it was a role she’d taken on reluctantly.

Donna Marie Baker was the former general manager of communications at Counties Manukau District Health Board.

There was a group of women at Middlemore Hospital who would go out to dinner and socialise, nicknamed 'The Housewives of Middlemore', Baker said.

Clare Thompson and Margaret White also both worked with Pauline Hanna in the public health sector and spoke of how she was “larger than life” and her work ethic.

'[She was] amazing, bright, capable, determined and absolutely reliable. She took hold of really tricky situations most people couldn’t, wouldn’t touch and she would see it through if something needed to be done,' White said in court.

White recalled a text exchange and subsequent phone call she had with Hanna in January 2020.

Hanna texted her saying she couldn’t work on anything tonight as “Philip has decided to be beastly”.

The pair then talked on the phone.

'She was very upset … She just wanted me to know if anything happened. I remember those words and thinking 'heavens above' … I don’t know and there was no indication that he was being physical with her, but he was clearly … He’d become enraged,' White told the court.

A number of Hanna’s colleagues were questioned about her late night and early morning emails.

A number of them said it was just what everyone was doing at the time given the Covid-19 vaccination response.

Former Auckland District Health Board chief executive Ailsa Claire said she raised these concerns with Hanna in March 2021.

But Hanna said she wished to continue doing it and told Claire 'work was her happy place' and she felt Hanna was “thriving”.

The police interview

Hours after Polkinghorne called emergency services, telling the call operator he’d found his wife dead and she’d hung herself, he sat back on a blue sofa in a small police interview room.

At times he seemed quite relaxed, at times perplexed and had the tendency to go off on tangents about unrelated matters.

The eye surgeon told Detective Ilona Walton he made Hanna breakfast in bed every day - a piece of McKenzie bread toast with Olivani margarine and Rose’s lime marmalade with a cup of French Earl Grey Tea.

She was the only person who could drink a cup of tea lying down, he remarked.

He did the same on the morning of April 5, he said. But couldn’t recall whether he popped the bread down to toast.

“For some reason or other I walked down to the other end of the house towards… I saw Pauline there and she was slouched and there was a chair there.”

He said he “panicked” and couldn’t use his mobile phone so dialed 111 using the landline.

'My brain couldn’t work I didn’t know what to do,“ he said.

Polkinghorne told Walton he was trying to 'put her down flat' and he dropped the phone and was 'just sobbing uncontrollably'.

Walton asked Polkinghorne how he came to have a scrape on his forehead. He said he didn’t know - the Crown said this was a piece of evidence Hanna left on her husband after he’d fatally assaulted her. She’d tried to fight back, they said.

Walton asked about the bright orange rope tied around the balustrade in the Remuera home.

'I was surprised that the balustrade would take a weight… Shall we say a dead weight of 70kgs.

“It looked awful just hanging there. It just was awful,” he said of his decision to untie the rope. “It was offensive to me - the rope.”

Mental health and suicide impossible to predict

Hanna’s mental health was also a big part of the trial.

It was not disputed Hanna had chronic depression and had been medicated for it for 20 years. It’s something quite common, her GP told the court.

But she also took weightloss medication and had taken medication to stop drinking alcohol for a period of time.

Dr David Menkes was one of the psychiatrists called for the defence and held the view that the cocktail of medications and other factors would have left Hanna at a higher risk of suicide.

But he also said there was no evidence her mental health was deteriorating. McClintock said in her closing there was no internet searches for suicide or hanging - and Hanna had the tendency to Google everything.

But defence lawyer Ron Mansfield pointed out the evidence of a psychologist who said suicide was impossible to predict and a plan could be formed in minutes.

On December 23, 2019, Hanna had called her GP and said her mother was unwell, and, her husband had left her. She said she had suicidal thoughts. The GP referred her to the crisis team.

The following day, Hanna reported to the GP she was feeling much better and agreed to see a psychologist. McClintock said this suggested if Hanna was feeling suicidal, she’d reach out to her GP.

Tracey Hanna, Hanna’s younger sister, flew over from London to give evidence for the defence.

She said after her sister’s death she recalled an incident after their father’s death sometime between 1990 and 1992. Hanna had been arguing with their mother and then told them she’d tried to kill herself. Tracey said she never told anyone about the incident and deeply regretted that.

‘She left notes for everything’ - supposed suicide note

Only about a quarter of people who die by suicide leave notes, the jury were told.

A note was one of the items police scoured the Remuera home for, but never found one.

One of the couple’s friend’s, Alison Ring, said in evidence that she’d always questioned if Hanna had killed herself, why hadn’t she left a note.

Ring and her husband had known Polkinghorne and Hanna for about 30 years and were about to go on a 4WD holiday with the pair and other couple’s down in the South Island.

The 'biggest upset' for Ring was when Polkinghorne came around to her home after he'd been charged with his wife’s murder.

'He bought a little piece of paper, as I'd always said I couldn't believe Pauline didn't leave any suicide note… She left notes for everything,' Ring said.

Ring said Polkinghorne said 'she did leave me a suicide note' and showed her a small piece of paper with the words to the effect of 'Dear P, I love you forever, from P'.

'That’s not the type of suicide note I’d be expecting from Pauline,' Ring said.

She asked Polkinghorne why didn't the police have it and he said he'd found it in some bedding in the bedroom.

Ring said she had many sleepless nights about the note and disagreed under cross-examination that Polkinghorne didn’t say it was a suicide note and just a note he’d found.

The experts - suicide or murder?

The jury heard from four different pathologists, all highly experienced having conducted thousands of autopsies between them. The two called for the Crown concluded Hanna died by neck compression, but said they couldn’t say whether it was caused by manual or ligature strangulation, or, by suicide.

But the two pathologists called on behalf of Polkinghorne, said they would have gone further and concluded, based on the pathology findings, Hanna died by suicide specifically a partial hanging.

Much was made about the non-specific injuries present on Hanna at the time of her death, which didn’t appear present in CCTV of her the day before. The Crown argued they could have been from Polkinghorne assaulting her and she would have had to bang her head, nose and grip her own arm. They also weren’t consistent with injuries if she’d hung herself.

Ultimately, the jury decided Polkinghorne was not guilty of his wife’s murder.