Overview
- An 11-person jury at Worcester Crown Court returned a unanimous guilty verdict in under four hours.
- Prosecutors said Joanne Samak was stabbed six times, including a fatal wound driven through her breastbone into her heart, which experts testified was highly unlikely to be self‑inflicted.
- Police conducting a fresh search found her blood on the defendant’s clothing that had been hidden in a loft and later recovered from the garage.
- Evidence cited by the Crown included neighbors hearing screams and a delay of over an hour before the 999 call, alongside the defendant’s shifting accounts to emergency services and police.
- The CPS argued the killing followed financial and marital strain and interest in another woman; a previous trial ended with a hung jury before this retrial secured conviction.