🔴 HOCKEY COACH GUILTY OF MURDERING WIFE IN DROITWICH HOME

A former international hockey player who claimed his wife fatally stabbed herself in front of their five-year-old child has been found guilty of her murder.

Mohamed Samak, 43, denied killing his wife Joanne Samak, 49, at their home in Chestnut Spinney, Droitwich Spa, in the early hours of 1 July 2024. He told jurors she took her own life after returning home late that night, insisting he woke to find her “stabbing herself in very quick motions”.

The prosecution said Samak murdered his wife following months of tension, financial strain and a rekindled relationship with another woman. They told Worcester Crown Court he later hid bloodstained clothing in the loft before dialling 999 more than an hour after Joanne suffered six stab wounds — five to her front and one to her side or back.

The jury heard Joanne’s fatal injury broke her breastbone and pierced her heart. Forensic pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar said the pattern of wounds, “more or less in a straight line” down her torso, initially left open the possibility of self-infliction, but expert evidence later concluded that the force required to penetrate her chest bone made that scenario “highly unlikely”.

When police entered the couple’s semi-detached home, they found Joanne unresponsive beside the bed. Samak was described as calm and composed, later telling officers he believed his wife had taken her own life. His clothing was seized, but the court heard he had failed to mention that he had hidden other garments in the attic. Those bloodstained clothes — including a jumper — were discovered only a week before the end of the trial, more than a year after Joanne’s death.

Samak told jurors he panicked when he realised his jumper was covered in blood and used a sock to remove it without touching the stains. He said he feared he would be blamed and decided to conceal the items. “My head was telling me to put it away because I was going to get the blame,” he said. “I was terrified.”

Jurors were shown bodycam footage from the first officers at the scene and heard Samak’s 999 call, made at 4.10am. He told the operator he had found Joanne slumped on the bed with a knife in her stomach after going to the bathroom. The court heard that despite being first aid trained, he ignored instructions to begin CPR.

Prosecutors said Joanne, an interior designer who had been due to start a new job later that morning, was the family’s main earner while her husband struggled to secure permanent coaching work. They argued the marriage had deteriorated, with Samak confiding that he missed the “romance” and that the couple were “living separate lives”.

The jury was told he had secretly met another woman, a former acquaintance from France, in London weeks before his wife’s death, and that the two had kissed. Joanne had confided to a friend that she no longer loved her husband and wished she could divorce him.

During his testimony, Samak wept as he repeated his claim that Joanne had stabbed herself while he watched helplessly. “I was trying to stop her, then she lost her balance and was screaming from the pain,” he told the court. “She came down lying face down by the bed. I went to her, held her up. She was not breathing or moving.”

The prosecution said this account was inconsistent with the forensic evidence, the timing of the emergency call, and the hidden clothing. They told jurors that Samak’s version of events had changed repeatedly — at first claiming he had found her slumped on the bed, and later asserting he had witnessed her stab herself.

In summing up, the Crown said Samak killed his wife and “tried to cloak his guilt with lies”. Prosecutor Jonathan Roe told the jury: “He sought to pass off his crime as a suicide — a callous act of deception that compounded the suffering of Joanne’s family.”

After a retrial lasting several weeks, the jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty on Wednesday afternoon. A previous trial earlier this year had ended without a verdict.

In a statement released after the conviction, Joanne’s family described her as “a beautiful, thoughtful person” and “an amazing mummy”. They said her loss had left a “devastating impact” on everyone who knew her, calling her “generous, creative and full of fun”.
Mohamed Samak will be sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Friday.