Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial

Originally due to run for six weeks, the trial of Philip Polkinghorne is now in its seventh week.  

The former Auckland eye surgeon is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, who was found dead on 5 April, 2021. 

He maintains she took her own life. 

More witnesses from the defence took the stand to discuss their thoughts on how Hanna died, and the risk factors that could have pushed her to take her own life.

New emails from Hanna were read to the court, and the question on if she used her phone the night before she died saw one Crown witness returned to the stand. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Dan Goodwin. Additional production support by Helen King. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Week six of the trial of Philip Polkinghorne continued with the defence’s case.  

The former Auckland eye surgeon is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, who was found dead on 5 April, 2021. 

He maintains she took her own life. 

Witnesses for the defence revealed a different side of Polkinghorne then what we’ve previously heard, with former colleagues and neighbours describing him as funny, generous and caring.  

While the case took another dive into the couple’s accounts, electricity usage the morning Hanna died, and the reappearance of a red mark on the stairs – and the defence pathologist weighed in as well.  

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Dan Goodwin. Additional production support by Helen King. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After nearly five weeks of witnesses, The Crown has closed its case in the trial of Philip Polkinghorne. 

The former Auckland eye surgeon is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, who was found dead on 5 April, 2021. 

He maintains she took her own life. 

The Crown closed its case with more on Polkinghorne’s arrest, Police searches, and a last minute witness on cell phones. 

The rest of the trial is now in the hands of the Defence – and for their first witness, they called up Pauline Hanna’s own sister. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional production support by Helen King. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Week five in the trial of Philip Polkinghorne has kicked off with more on what was found on the couple’s tech, a hint that Pauline Hanna found a P pipe months before her death, and what exactly is a ‘girlfriend experience’?

And two messages, drafted, on the morning of Pauline Hanna’s death, have also been revealed by the defence. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The end of the shortened fourth week in the trial of Philip Polkinghorne traverses a range of topics He’s accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, in April 2021 – but maintains, she took her own life.  

More on the couple’s finances, the dark sides of meth use, a sex tape, Google searches about infidelity, and a series of intimate letters between a husband and a wife were all revealed and discussed by witnesses. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The trial of Philip Polkinghorne has, in theory, hit the halfway mark – with Justice Graham Lang telling the jury it’s “broadly on schedule”. 

Polkinghorne’s accused of strangling his wife, Pauline Hanna, at the couple’s Remuera home in April 2021 – before allegedly staging the scene to look like she’d taken her own life.  

His defence maintains she committed suicide.  

Day 16 focused on Auckland Eye, Polkinghorne's workplace, and how his colleagues found a meth pipe and lighter in one of the consult rooms, and the subsequent drug testing there.

Day 17 solely focused on Polkinghorne and Hanna's finances and what a forensic accountant found about the state of them. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions around a certain dinner at a Havelock North restaurant, more on what prescription drugs Pauline Hanna was taking – and unravelling the issues at Auckland Eye. 

Friends and colleagues have weighed in at the end of the third week of Philip Polkinghorne’s trial. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warning: This episode contains disturbing material and some explicit language. 

How did Pauline Hanna die? That’s the question for the jury, who, for weeks will consider evidence and ultimately decide – was it murder, or suicide?  

It’s also a question put to two different pathologists, tasked with exploring how the 63-year-old died in her Remuera home in April 2021.  

Philip Polkinghorne is accused of murdering his wife – but maintains she took her own life.  

We also hear from a long-time friend of Pauline and about an incident that worried her and her husband, and we get the first glimpse into Philip’s work life – what were the issues at Auckland Eye we’ve heard so much about?  

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Day 10 saw the jury visit to the home of Pauline Hanna and Phllip Polkinghorne to see where Pauline had died.

That was before a parade of ex-colleagues took to the stand to shed light on their relationship with Pauline, and what she told them about her concern for her marriage and her finances.

Plus, an explanation as to why Pauline Hanna’s niece recorded a family conversation. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pauline Hanna’s voice echoed throughout the courtroom on Day 9 of the trial of her husband, Philip Polkinghorne, who is accused of murdering her.  

It came in the form of a covert recording of a family dinner – providing Hanna a chance to explain their relationship in her own words to the jury, who’ll decide whether she died of foul play, or, whether she took her own life.  

That was before a bombshell was dropped by the defence, as they revealed new information about the state of her mental health in the decades before her death. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox. Additional reporting by Craig Kapitan and George Block. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The court has gotten its first glimpse of evidence from those closest to Philip Polkinghorne and Paulina Hanna – and some insight into his infidelity. And we have heard directly from Polkinghorne, with the court hearing his interview with Police for the first time.  

The former Auckland eye surgeon is accused of murdering his DHB boss wife in April 2021 - but he says, she took her own life.  

Day 7 heard from a friend of the couple who owned the bach next to them, before the court heard from a power expert to analyse Polkinghorne's version of events from the morning Hanna died.

On Day 8, more people who had come into contact with the couple, including a personal trainer due to see Hanna the morning she died. Police also detailed a raid on a chalet where Polkinghorne was staying with a sex worker in the weeks after his wife's death, before his Police interview was played. 

For the transcripts from Polkinghorne's interview, go here:https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/philip-polkinghorne-murder-trial-jurors-hear-defendant-in-his-own-words-as-police-interview-played/U7YXHIMVBRBO3NDL2BJRGO5NZI/ 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the trial begins its second week, Day 6 began with a cross-examination of ESR forensic scientist, Fiona Matheson, and later the court heard from ESR forensic scientist Nicholas Curno, to discuss DNA evidence. 

Last week, the jury heard how police and forensic scientists spent 11 days at the scene.  

We already know the Crown isn’t relying too much on forensics done at the scene – but, it’s important for ESR to walk the jury through what they didn’t find, just as much as what they may have. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first week of the trial of Philip Polkinghorne has come to an end. 

While we’re in the early stages of evidence, the topics that will be covered in the case have been made clear.  

Infidelity, threesomes, sex workers, a meth habit, financial concerns, depression, stress, and a Covid vaccine rollout: All this will be traversed over the next six weeks to answer the ultimate question of murder or suicide? 

Day 4 focused on the rope found at the scene and analysis of it from a Canadian expert, before the state of the guest room and laundry in the couple's home was explored. Day 5 had a focus on some of the last photos seen of Hanna from the day before her death. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Day three of the trial of Philip Polkinghorne centred around a bright orange rope hanging from a balustrade, and a detailed walk-through of the scene examination of the couple’s Remuera home.  

The former Auckland eye surgeon maintains his wife took her own life on the morning of April 5, 2021 - an Easter Monday.  

But, the Crown claims he staged the scene to look like suicide. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warning: This podcast contains disturbing content.

The second day of the trial focused on those who first attended the scene where Pauline Hanna's body was found.

Was Philip Polkinghorne reasonably calm on the morning of his wife’s death or just composed and trying to help?

Was the injury on his forehead a scratch, graze, scrape, or cut?

How was Pauline Hanna’s body found - and what injuries did she have?

And why, by late morning, before a statement was even given, did Police deem the scene suspicious?

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warning: This podcast contains disturbing content. 

The Crown has alleged extramarital affairs, dealings with sex workers, and a drug habit. 

The defence claims a suicide, casual drug use, and an open and loving relationship. 

All the cards were laid on the table on the first day of Philip Polkinghorne's trial. 

He’s accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna – whose body was found in the couple’s Remuera home in April 2021. 

You can listen to episodes of Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial through The Front Page podcast feed, or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.  

This series is presented and produced by, Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Paddy Fox.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Easter Monday 2021, Paulina Hanna was found dead at the Remuera home she shared with her husband of 30 years, Philip Polkinghorne.

For 16 months, her death was treated as “unexplained”. That’s until it emerged Polkinghorne had been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty in August 2022.

From the team behind The Front Page, the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, comes Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial.

Listen to Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, or in The Front Page podcast feed.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.