The wife of Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne had been dead for just over three weeks when Auckland and Christchurch detectives showed up at a lavish Mt Cook chalet where he was staying to execute a search warrant. Polkinghorne came to the door alongside Australian sex worker Madison Ashton, whose phones police were after. The scene, painted for jurors this morning in the second week of Polkinghorne’s six-week Auckland High Court murder trial , provided a stark contrast to the two prior witnesses - both of whom said Polkinghorne seemed devastated in the immediate aftermath of Pauline Hanna’s death.
Polkinghorne, 71, is accused of having fatally strangled Hanna, 63, inside their Remuera home some time over the long Easter weekend in 2021 before staging the scene to look like a suicide. A significant part of the Crown’s circumstantial case against him is that he had been leading a double life - spending large amounts of money on sex workers, Ashton in particular. The defence, meanwhile, has contended the couple had a happy “open” relationship and that Hanna’s history of depression was responsible for her death rather than foul play.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER LIVE BLOG STORY CONTINUES Detective Sergeant Lisa Anderson’s description of the Mt Cook search warrant execution came amid a quick succession of witnesses today as the Crown case made an abrupt shift from the scene examination evidence that dominated the first seven days of testimony. The Auckland-based inv.