Philip Polkinghorne has told the Coroners Court he began deleting photographs and other material involving sex worker Madison Ashton after learning he was likely the prime suspect in his wife's death. Polkinghorne, who was acquitted of murdering Pauline Hanna in 2024, is now giving evidence under oath at the coronial inquiry examining the circumstances of her death.
eLocal Report: Based on reporting by Rowan Quinn, Senior Journalist for RNZ.
Philip Polkinghorne has told the inquest into the death of his wife Pauline Hanna that he deliberately deleted photographs and data from his phone involving sex worker Madison Ashton after realising police considered him a suspect.
Polkinghorne said the material was embarrassing and private and included messages involving other sex workers.
"It was embarrassing. I wanted to keep it private."
He told the court there was "compromising material" on the device that he did not want other people to see.
The evidence provides a new account from Polkinghorne himself about his actions following Hanna's death — evidence the jury at his 2024 murder trial did not hear from him directly because he did not testify at that proceeding.
Acquitted of Murder
Polkinghorne was found not guilty in 2024 of murdering Pauline Hanna, who died at the couple's Remuera home in 2021.
The current proceeding is not another criminal trial.
It is a coronial inquiry examining the circumstances surrounding Hanna's death.
Polkinghorne's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, questioned him about why he deleted material from his phone following his wife's death.
Polkinghorne said his actions began after a friend, defence lawyer Tony Bouchier, contacted him while he was being interviewed by police and told him his home was being treated as a crime scene and that he was likely a suspect.
Polkinghorne said police themselves had not told him this.
"I felt I had been betrayed and that they had taken advantage of my vulnerability."
Polkinghorne Breaks Down Giving Evidence
Polkinghorne began his evidence by reading from a written statement and broke down several times before Mansfield began questioning him.
He described himself as devastated on the morning he discovered Hanna.
"I was absolutely devastated and I couldn't think straight. I couldn't get my phone to work. I mean how pathetic is that?"
Polkinghorne told the court that some of his recollections from that morning, particularly concerning physical evidence at the scene, did not correspond with what he was subsequently told by police or what he later observed in photographs.
RNZ reported that much of the detail surrounding those discrepancies cannot currently be published because of suppression orders.
Polkinghorne said looking back at what had happened left him shocked and confused.
The Morning Pauline Hanna Died
Polkinghorne described finding his wife cold and wanting to cover her.
"I knew she was cold. I wanted to cover her up ... She was dead. She didn't need a blanket."
He said his recollection of the sequence of events that followed was unclear, although he remembered calling emergency services on 111 and then telephoning his sister Ruth.
Mansfield also questioned Polkinghorne about whether he had consumed methamphetamine on the night before Hanna died.
Polkinghorne emphatically denied doing so.
He also denied using the bathroom attached to the room where Hanna had slept and where traces of methamphetamine were subsequently found.
Polkinghorne was convicted in 2024 of possession of methamphetamine.
Hanna's Workload Before Her Death
A significant part of Polkinghorne's evidence concerned what he described as the considerable work pressure Hanna had been experiencing before her death.
Hanna was involved in New Zealand's Covid-19 vaccine rollout, and Polkinghorne told the court she had been working extremely hard.
According to his evidence, emails were being sent across periods of as much as 13 hours on many days.
His voice reportedly cracked when he described one day on which the emails stretched across a 20-hour period.
Polkinghorne also described what he considered unusual behaviour by Hanna on the day before her death.
He said she had gone to the gym before travelling directly to work while still wearing her gym clothes.
"She was always pristine and well presented and would not normally be seen in gym gear or what she would wear at home."
The relevance and weight of evidence about Hanna's workload and state of mind will ultimately be matters for the coroner to assess alongside the wider body of evidence presented at the inquiry.
Police Begin Cross-Examination
Counsel for police Alysha McClintock subsequently began cross-examining Polkinghorne.
One of the first matters raised was why he had previously provided three descriptions of the scene where he found Hanna.
Polkinghorne was expected to continue answering questions during the afternoon.
The inquest is significant because, unlike his murder trial, Polkinghorne is now personally giving evidence about Hanna's death and his actions immediately afterwards.
His acquittal remains an important legal fact: a jury found him not guilty of murdering Pauline Hanna.
The coronial inquiry has a different function. Its task is to examine the circumstances of Hanna's death and, ultimately, allow the coroner to reach findings based on the evidence presented.
Source
Original reporting by Rowan Quinn, Senior Journalist, RNZ. This eLocal Report is based on the supplied RNZ report and retains the original RNZ photograph and attribution.