Speaker 1: Kiota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the
Speaker 1: front page. The New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This
Speaker 1: Is Accused The Polkinghorn Trial. Over six weeks. In conjunction
Speaker 1: with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing you regular
Speaker 1: coverage as one of the most high profile trials of
Speaker 1: the year makes its way through the High Court at Auckland.
Speaker 1: A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content. The end of
Speaker 1: the shortened fourth week in the trial of Philip Polkinghorn
Speaker 1: traverses a range of topics. He's accused of murdering his wife,
Speaker 1: Pauline Hannah in April twenty twenty one, but maintains she
Speaker 1: took her own life. We'll hear more on the couple's finances,
Speaker 1: the dark sides of meth use, a sex take, Google
Speaker 1: searches about infidelity, and a series of intimate letters between
Speaker 1: a husband and a wife. Margaret Skelton's cross examination continued
Speaker 1: on day eighteen. You'll remember she's a forensic accountant. Ron
Speaker 1: Mansfield began by walking through spending by Hannah. It included
Speaker 1: purchases like women's wear, dry cleaning, skincare, hair and beauty.
Speaker 1: For example, spending in twenty nineteen covers a little over
Speaker 1: thirty three thousand dollars of spending on items attributable to her.
Speaker 1: He said in twenty twenty it was about forty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: So you would agree with me that missus Pulkinhorn obviously
Speaker 2: had access to that ad ADO account and was able
Speaker 2: to draw or make purchase in relation to various items
Speaker 2: that appeared to be relating to.
Speaker 3: Who and so far as put what's going on here? Yes,
Speaker 3: thank you.
Speaker 1: Mansfield runs through payments to the women who appeared as
Speaker 1: regular payees, nearly three hundred thousand dollars paid out over
Speaker 1: a five year period. He asked Skilton about whether she
Speaker 1: looked into what happened to the money transferred after it
Speaker 1: hit the women's bank accounts. She didn't.
Speaker 3: No, I didn't because that wasn't what we were seeking,
Speaker 3: the information we were seeking, and frequently it would be
Speaker 3: viewed as a step too far, like you, by the
Speaker 3: court probably or by bias.
Speaker 2: But you didn't actually apply for their banking vehicles to
Speaker 2: see how, for example, payment in the summer five thousand
Speaker 2: dollars was being utilized.
Speaker 3: No.
Speaker 1: Mansfield runs through the names Madison Lee Alaria Jodi. We
Speaker 1: don't really know what the payments were for because.
Speaker 2: How she applied the money might provide some indication as
Speaker 2: to whether it was a gift, a loan, or the
Speaker 2: payment for services or I suppose.
Speaker 1: A product correct, correct?
Speaker 2: So were you able to tell us whether that payment
Speaker 2: is payment for services by way of example, or whether
Speaker 2: it's a loan or a gift. Given the size of
Speaker 2: the payment, it.
Speaker 3: Was nothing on the bank statement to indicate what it.
Speaker 2: Was for, and you took no further investigations, So from
Speaker 2: your work, we don't know.
Speaker 1: Correct. Mansfield suggests they could have been loans with payments
Speaker 1: made back to Polkinghorn. After some time, he asked Skelton
Speaker 1: whether she knew anything about the Ilaria family trust and
Speaker 1: whether she knew anything about the family's medical or financial needs.
Speaker 1: She didn't. The Crown called addiction specialist Emma Schwartz to
Speaker 1: the stand. She's currently the clinical director of CADS, or
Speaker 1: the Community Alcohol and Drug Service. She's an expert witness
Speaker 1: and gave evidence about the effects and manifestations of meth use.
Speaker 1: You'll remember Polkinghorn admitted to two charges covering meth and
Speaker 1: meth pipe found in his home. A friend and colleague
Speaker 1: said he admitted using meth and urged her to try it,
Speaker 1: and thirty seven point seven grams of the drug was
Speaker 1: found in the couple's Remueerra home. Schwartz says meth is
Speaker 1: from the amphetamine stimulant family, which includes things like MDMA, MDA, MDA,
Speaker 1: meth itself, and it's broadly a part of the stimulant class,
Speaker 1: which includes everything from cocaine to coffee. Meth has an
Speaker 1: additional methyl group, though, which basically means it travels to
Speaker 1: the brain quite quickly.
Speaker 4: And if we want to compare it to other things
Speaker 4: that release dopamine, you know, something like chocolate or things
Speaker 4: that we normally enjoy that release dopamine, you're getting us
Speaker 4: sort of one hundred units or maybe two hundred units. Cocaine,
Speaker 4: which is another common stimula, you might get about three
Speaker 4: hundred or so units of dopamine. For methamphetamine, you're getting
Speaker 4: an excessive twelve hundred or so units of dopamine just
Speaker 4: there in the synaps.
Speaker 1: Smoking or injecting math hits you in seconds, she said.
Speaker 1: The euphoria or high experienced in those seconds is what
Speaker 1: makes it so addictive. The rush of dopamine reinforces the
Speaker 1: want to do it again.
Speaker 4: We might see in someone wide pupils. Their eyes might
Speaker 4: be looking wide. They might be extremely alert, they might
Speaker 4: be aroused. They might be a little edgy. There might
Speaker 4: be tense, they might be sort of keyed up and pacing.
Speaker 4: Their appetite is reduced, their need for sleep is reduced,
Speaker 4: and then there's these dopaminergic and serratin energy effects which
Speaker 4: leads to this relaxation and feeling of pleasure. There might
Speaker 4: be more talkative, have a sense of feeling more self esteem,
Speaker 4: a greater sense of confidence, a greater sense of libido,
Speaker 4: a greater sense of comfort. They're talking away, they're up talking,
Speaker 4: not wanting to go to sleep, and not eating, and
Speaker 4: they may feel that actually, cognitively there they're doing really well,
Speaker 4: so things seem to make sense.
Speaker 1: Compared to other stimulants. Math lasts so much longer, she said,
Speaker 1: four to eight hours.
Speaker 4: It's half life is about twelve hours. It can be
Speaker 4: up to seventeen hours. Sorry, I'll just pulls you. The
Speaker 4: half life is what the amount of time that it
Speaker 4: takes for half of it to leave the body, and
Speaker 4: it's a proxy measure for the how long the duration
Speaker 4: of effects of a drug, So cocaine, for example, is
Speaker 4: you're getting a couple of hours at most. Where's methamphetamine
Speaker 4: you're getting, you know, twelve to seventeen hours. It lasts
Speaker 4: for so much longer.
Speaker 1: Schwarz said. Within the stimulant class, it's extremely and dedictive.
Speaker 1: It affects different people in different ways. If you use
Speaker 1: it consistently, the dopamine is consistently depleted. When a lot
Speaker 1: of external dopamine is introduced, the body can reduce production
Speaker 1: of the hormone. It thinks it doesn't need to produce
Speaker 1: it anymore, so that takes a while to come back,
Speaker 1: sometimes years. When it comes to the recreational use of math,
Speaker 1: she said, it could be once or twice a month.
Speaker 1: When people start to use it weekly, it's less recreational.
Speaker 1: Binge using is a pattern repeated use over a short
Speaker 1: period of time. It reflects the need to use again
Speaker 1: and gain to maintain that high. When they stop using,
Speaker 1: they crash.
Speaker 4: Often the person has been quite sleep deprived when they're
Speaker 4: either on a binge or heavy use, and they may
Speaker 4: go for in fact, days and days and days. I've
Speaker 4: heard of twenty one days even for someone who they
Speaker 4: haven't slepped that long, and so naturally there's this crash afterwards.
Speaker 1: Schwartz said, people talk about using meth in points. That's
Speaker 1: a point of a gram, so one tenth of a gram.
Speaker 1: People usually use a point at a time. Aggression and
Speaker 1: hostility can also be a byproduct of meth use. The
Speaker 1: jury here is, but violence isn't inevitable. There is a
Speaker 1: link between aggression and math use across a range of studies,
Speaker 1: though there's some dispute about how these studies were controlled
Speaker 1: and their sample sizes.
Speaker 4: The other really important study is actually a New Zealand study,
Speaker 4: the Christchurch Health and Development Study, and that follows I
Speaker 4: think twelve hundred and sixty five people who were born
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy seven and over time, and they measured
Speaker 4: everything they possibly could for each of those people over time,
Speaker 4: including their substance use. That including markers for aggression and
Speaker 4: violence and assault, and so they have a pretty good
Speaker 4: understanding of the past upbringing and the early life experiences
Speaker 4: of those people and how that might have bearing an
Speaker 4: influence on things downstream. And what they found those that
Speaker 4: had used methamphetamine, it was a two point five times
Speaker 4: increased risk of perpetrating violence, and likewise, they looked at
Speaker 4: intimate partner violence as well, and they found a two
Speaker 4: point one one so twice as likely, so you more
Speaker 4: than twice as likely to perpetrate violent of perpetrate violence
Speaker 4: for the group that used methamphetamine compared with the group
Speaker 4: that didn't use methamphetamine.
Speaker 1: On cross examination, Ron Mansfield asked whether the adverse impacts
Speaker 1: of meth use depend on the dose and regularity. Schwartz agreed.
Speaker 1: Mansfield referred to wastewater drug testing results from New Zealand
Speaker 1: in gen Nquary to March twenty twenty four. For example, math, MDMA,
Speaker 1: and cocaine were all detected. Mansfield refers to another page
Speaker 1: in the report, looking at Auckland. It shows the average
Speaker 1: weekly drug use by district sites and grams. In Auckland.
Speaker 1: About nine thy two hundred grams of math is being
Speaker 1: used weekly on average.
Speaker 2: Meth Phetamine at least at a recreational level, was used
Speaker 2: widely within our Auckland area.
Speaker 5: Correct.
Speaker 4: I think population estimates are about one point one to
Speaker 4: one point three percent of the population uses math them petamine.
Speaker 4: That's the so this is not necessarily per person. This
Speaker 4: per capita drug consumption by district on the left there,
Speaker 4: but you know it's based on waste water. One person
Speaker 4: could be using all of this theoretically, if you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, based on the circles on the right.
Speaker 2: Unless underground, especially the underground.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it wouldn't go well.
Speaker 1: For coverage of other news events in New Zealand, including
Speaker 1: the issues facing the Deval group and the start of
Speaker 1: the America's Cup. Listen to the front page The Herald's
Speaker 1: daily news podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Next on
Speaker 1: the stand was Police Constable Madeline Palmer. She was tasked
Speaker 1: with examining tech belonging to the couple. She begins with
Speaker 1: a MacBook pro belonging to Philip Polkinghorn. There was a
Speaker 1: digital clone made of the laptop and she used software
Speaker 1: to examine that it shows files and data and when
Speaker 1: it was created on the computer. The report she produced
Speaker 1: is about twelve hundred pages long. She first looked at
Speaker 1: April third, fourth, and fifth. Working backwards, she notes Polkinghorn's
Speaker 1: laptop's last use was ten fifty nine pm on April fourth,
Speaker 1: the night before Pauline Hannah was found dead. There were
Speaker 1: emails exchanged between Hannah and Polkinghorn between ten and eleven
Speaker 1: PM regarding his draft resignation letter to Auckland die He
Speaker 1: earlier said that she was helping him with it. Now
Speaker 1: working back to April fourth and April third.
Speaker 5: At two forty eight am on the second of April,
Speaker 5: a Google search was conducted for in zid escorts. In
Speaker 5: the following eleven minutes through to two fifty nine am
Speaker 5: was spent viewing New Zealand Girls dot co dot nzid,
Speaker 5: which is located through the knowledge se Safari records.
Speaker 2: That's just how you identified that on the laptop.
Speaker 5: That's the data title in the laptop devices. The laptop
Speaker 5: was also used to watch a video titled pink varionated
Speaker 5: dot mov. The female subject of this video I recognized
Speaker 5: the medicine Neshton heard un identified as non to Polkinghorn
Speaker 5: through his communication and financial data. This video is last
Speaker 5: access on the fourth of April twenty twenty one at
Speaker 5: eight o seven am. On the second of April twenty
Speaker 5: twenty one, at seven thirty nine pm, an email was
Speaker 5: received from Ashton regarding the delivery of furniture to Sydney, Australia.
Speaker 5: At eight forty five pm on the same day, Polkinhorn
Speaker 5: responded to Ashton via email, and the following day, on
Speaker 5: the third of April twenty twenty one, at eight nineteen pm,
Speaker 5: Ashton sent a further email.
Speaker 1: Palmer found images screen grabs from a mobile phone of
Speaker 1: a website with instructions for making a glass pipe for
Speaker 1: meth consumption using a light bulb. These were created on
Speaker 1: the thirty first of December twenty nineteen and last accessed
Speaker 1: on twenty third of February twenty twenty one. There's also
Speaker 1: another image of a glass pipe. A document referring to
Speaker 1: health and wellness goals up until twenty forty was created
Speaker 1: in September twenty nineteen. In it, one of the goals
Speaker 1: is to avoid using drugs. There were also documents regarding
Speaker 1: a property in Northcote Point, a letter to a body
Speaker 1: corp AGM notes referencing Alaria. We already know about his
Speaker 1: visits to Alaria, a sex worker on the North Shore,
Speaker 1: and his appearances at AGM's on her behalf. Then onto
Speaker 1: Madison Ashton, the Sydney sex worker. The Crown alleges he
Speaker 1: was setting up a future with one of the main
Speaker 1: characters of his double life. A confidentiality agreement between Ashton
Speaker 1: and Polkinghorn created in November twenty eighteen. A loan agreement
Speaker 1: from Polkinghorn to Ashton for just over ninety thousand dollars
Speaker 1: for a term of six months from December twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: A consultation request for Madison Ashton to an Australian doctor
Speaker 1: outlining symptoms and requesting a test of some kind in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty an online application for a home loan completed
Speaker 1: by Ashton, dated February twenty twenty one and emailed to Polkinghorn.
Speaker 1: There are also more screenshots, this time from an escort
Speaker 1: website for the profile of Christine McQueen and alias of Ashton.
Speaker 1: There are more references to Ashton, screenshots of chats with
Speaker 1: her going back to October twenty eighteen, a screenshot of
Speaker 1: Christine McQueen's Twitter account in twenty fourteen, a purchase of
Speaker 1: a washing machine delivered to Ashton's address, and she featured
Speaker 1: in some videos.
Speaker 5: Yes so these are various MP four and movie document
Speaker 5: what file types. Twelve different videos depicting medicine, Eshton and
Speaker 5: various states of undress and in sexually suggested poses and
Speaker 5: engaging in sexual activity. One shows doctor Polkinhorn engaging in
Speaker 5: sexual activity with miss Eshton, and another showsman bid while
Speaker 5: miss Eshton moves around the room. These files are dated
Speaker 5: between March thirty first, twenty twenty and twenty four March
Speaker 5: twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2: They're at twelve yiss.
Speaker 1: There was a spattering of documents relating to auckland Eye,
Speaker 1: a shareholders agreement, a resignation letter, and images of Hannah
Speaker 1: in lingerie lying on a bed created in twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: Another more explicit image of a naked woman, possibly Hannah,
Speaker 1: created in twenty ten. Palmer also assessed clone data of
Speaker 1: a laptop belonging to Hannah. She looked at the activity.
Speaker 1: It was last used at ten forty eight on April fourth.
Speaker 1: Her laptop two showed emails between her and Polkinghorn about
Speaker 1: the auckland Ie resignation letter. There were numerous emails back
Speaker 1: and forth with colleagues regarding the COVID vaccine rollout. Now
Speaker 1: onto the Google searches and website visits on Hannah's laptop.
Speaker 1: I've clipped some of the references for you.
Speaker 2: First one you've got here is how do you keep
Speaker 2: saying when your husband is having an afear?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: And that date of twenty eight of October twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: Yes, the date is twenty eighth tenth, twenty twenty eight,
Speaker 5: thirty nine pm. The search was done for www dot
Speaker 5: heysegment dot com, hyphen infidelity, Understanding the fear and rebuilding
Speaker 5: your relationship.
Speaker 2: Help us with the next? Please, best Life online science?
Speaker 4: Husband is cheating?
Speaker 3: Is that?
Speaker 4: What's that?
Speaker 2: Is that the search itself?
Speaker 5: So that's the URL meaning the site access. So this
Speaker 5: hasn't been a search term. This has been a website
Speaker 5: she has accessed.
Speaker 2: So rather than a search to direct the access to
Speaker 2: a particular website. Yes, four June twenty nineteen, on page five,
Speaker 2: what's that? First search on that?
Speaker 1: That?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 5: The search is how to cope when things go wrong?
Speaker 3: Are the next?
Speaker 5: Access?
Speaker 1: Is an access?
Speaker 3: Isn't? It?
Speaker 5: Is a website a psychological Psychology Today website with the
Speaker 5: title the one most Important way cope when things go wrong?
Speaker 2: You tell us what there is?
Speaker 3: Please?
Speaker 5: Asthet again is on the Psychology Today website. How reading
Speaker 5: verbatim here, how think narcissist and why they hurt people?
Speaker 1: In November twenty twenty, a search why do people trample
Speaker 1: over me? An inquiry to a private investigator. We heard
Speaker 1: about this earlier. This happened in July twenty twenty a
Speaker 1: series of emails to family catch up emails. They were
Speaker 1: a common occurrence and then a glimpse into the relationships
Speaker 1: inner workings. A letter seemingly from Philip to Pauline begins,
Speaker 1: Dearest Pauline, presumably written on December twenty third, twenty nineteen.
Speaker 5: I felt increasingly devoid in the last few months of
Speaker 5: our relationship. I feel, rightly or wrongly, that I'm a
Speaker 5: spectator rather than a participant.
Speaker 1: It goes on to say, onto the day to day stuff,
Speaker 1: it seems to me you don't give me a chance
Speaker 1: to tell you something without you finishing my sentence, telling
Speaker 1: me you're more tired, or stating something as you leave
Speaker 1: the room, knowing I can't hear what you say.
Speaker 5: I'm concerned you don't really listen to me. You don't
Speaker 5: want to know what I really think. I have tried
Speaker 5: on numerous occasions to discuss this with you, but inevitably
Speaker 5: it is after nine PM when you come back with
Speaker 5: a response that is usually negative. When I request the time,
Speaker 5: which is less disruptive to me, you invariably state you
Speaker 5: are not a morning person, ignoring the obvious that I
Speaker 5: don't want to discuss contentious issues after eight pm.
Speaker 1: It then goes on to say, for many years you
Speaker 1: have asked me what I want for Christmas, and my
Speaker 1: stock answer has been to not ask me to borrow
Speaker 1: money from me then, But in twenty nineteen not only
Speaker 1: was that ignored, but you went and got an overdraft
Speaker 1: as well. Twenty nineteen, as you know, was a difficult
Speaker 1: financial year for me. It reads. It then references some trips.
Speaker 5: But right up until last week you were stating I
Speaker 5: hadn't taken you to Australia as much in previous years.
Speaker 5: My response was, in twenty five years, you have never
Speaker 5: taken me to Australia.
Speaker 1: Ever, it goes on in twenty five years, I don't
Speaker 1: think you've ever paid for the rates, water bill, insurance etc.
Speaker 1: Either at Upland Road or Rings Beach or your car
Speaker 1: for that matter.
Speaker 5: Yes, your contempt of money does annoy me. Even stating
Speaker 5: your flights are free biggers belief, knowing it is the
Speaker 5: use of my ear miles that is paying for those flights.
Speaker 5: Dare I say, denying me a discounted flight. I have
Speaker 5: come to the recognition, belatedly that you are not going
Speaker 5: to change. I know by now the cycle of how
Speaker 5: we relate to each other, the verbal argument, sorry, verbal gymnastics,
Speaker 5: the overstepping of boundaries, the barbs, and then the declaration
Speaker 5: of love, only to reboot the same pathway a week
Speaker 5: or month later. My options, it seems, are dead simple,
Speaker 5: either accept my lot or move on apart.
Speaker 1: It then mentions a three day a retreat like course
Speaker 1: called moving on or Up. Paulkinghorn went missing over Christmas
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, you remember, leaving his wife having to lie
Speaker 1: to family about his whereabouts when she arrived at their batch.
Speaker 1: A document called Philip appears to be a letter addressed
Speaker 1: to her husband, created on the second of January twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: perhaps a reply to Philip's dearest Pauline letter. Palmer reads
Speaker 1: it out in full. It starts with addressing this to
Speaker 1: my darling Philip. It addresses some unhappy times, but reads
Speaker 1: now that it is largely you and me. I was
Speaker 1: of the view that we have a really exciting, vibrant
Speaker 1: time ahead for the next thirty years.
Speaker 5: Spending more time at the beach, being grandparents and really
Speaker 5: enjoying together the fruits of all that we have, all
Speaker 5: that the two of us have done. I still have
Speaker 5: a bucket load of love. I think you do too.
Speaker 1: It goes on to mention some ugly times in the
Speaker 1: past eighteen months, and I am by no means perfect.
Speaker 1: And you say people don't change. That is correct, but
Speaker 1: you can modify.
Speaker 5: For example, I keep my car full. I keep fifty
Speaker 5: dollar note in the passenger visor. I attempt to keep
Speaker 5: my car clean. I know it is not now. I
Speaker 5: have never been dirty. But take on board your criticism
Speaker 5: about my handling of food. I have my text messages chime,
Speaker 5: so I cannot miss your text. I make an effort
Speaker 5: to be on time. Sometimes I fail. I take my
Speaker 5: dishes down to the dishwasher in the morning. I accumulate
Speaker 5: the washing, so I am not using the washing machine overly.
Speaker 5: I don't wear my bodysuits other than to work.
Speaker 1: Money is a big issue. It reads, you do take
Speaker 1: the line's share of the load. She references an email.
Speaker 1: It reads as if I am a totally selfish person
Speaker 1: who contributes nothing financially, she writes, and then it ends.
Speaker 5: So oh, sorry, you were everything to me and you
Speaker 5: have changed. I haven't, but clearly I have not read
Speaker 5: your signals. If you want to make a change I e. Divorce.
Speaker 5: Please make it now before thirty one January so that
Speaker 5: can make arrangements. I am sixty two in February, and
Speaker 5: I do not have arrange of options right now. I
Speaker 5: feel very scared, confused, sad, and incredibly lonely.
Speaker 1: When court resumed on day nineteen, there are several versions
Speaker 1: of this Dearest Philip letter, differing in the first and
Speaker 1: last paragraphs. A word document titled why and how to Next,
Speaker 1: created in October twenty twenty, appears to be a series
Speaker 1: of pasted information copied from websites regarding marital affairs, marriage troubles,
Speaker 1: and how to move forward and cope with that. On
Speaker 1: cross examination, Ron Mansfield takes Palmer through various documents. Auckland
Speaker 1: I finances life insurance cover for thirty thousand dollars each.
Speaker 1: We'd heard about that earlier in the trial. He references
Speaker 1: a search on alcoholics Anonymous, a website. It appears to
Speaker 1: relate to a search about the twelve steps of the
Speaker 1: AA program. He asks Palmer about deleted search history on
Speaker 1: Polkinghorn's laptop. Did they investigate Hannah's deleted search history? She
Speaker 1: can't recall now.
Speaker 2: The reason I'm doing this is because we've heard quite
Speaker 2: a bit of evidence through this entire trial regarding doctor
Speaker 2: Polkinghorn and his interest in sexual activities and within the
Speaker 2: relationship and outside the relationship, and to provide some balance.
Speaker 2: But we can say this document.
Speaker 1: He then goes into some search history from Hannah's laptop.
Speaker 2: So if one search is the word sex on Missus
Speaker 2: Polkinghorn's web history on her laptop, then a number of
Speaker 2: results come up carreered in relation to various pornography sites
Speaker 2: that she has at had access to.
Speaker 5: Correct based on the document provided, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1: He goes on the word escorts yields two results.
Speaker 2: Now you'll be aware, as a police officer that sometimes
Speaker 2: dating sites are also used by escorts, whether they be
Speaker 2: male or female, as a way of advertising and or
Speaker 2: seeking interest in their services. Are you aware of that? No,
Speaker 2: it was not, I'm told, But this final document uses
Speaker 2: the suit term dating and provides the results for dating.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to produce that as an also thank
Speaker 2: you soon.
Speaker 1: Mansfield has signaled he'll be talking more to these documents
Speaker 1: later in the trial. What Mansfield is doing here is
Speaker 1: something called presenting exhibits. These can be documents photos or
Speaker 1: sometimes other physical evidence. As you've learned so far, much
Speaker 1: of the trial process is procedural, and this is just
Speaker 1: another one of those things. You have to kind of
Speaker 1: log in your evidence along the way, so it's on
Speaker 1: the record. He doesn't have to go in depth now,
Speaker 1: but he notes he will be bringing them up again
Speaker 1: later when the defense gets to present its case. Moving
Speaker 1: on to a new letter from Hannah to Polkinghorn, created
Speaker 1: March twenty nineteen. It's unclear when Polkinghorn received it, but
Speaker 1: it's on his laptop by April twenty nineteen. It was
Speaker 1: last accessed in August twenty twenty. It starts, this is
Speaker 1: a letter to the person who loves me. I thought
Speaker 1: that person was you. It's a long letter, so I
Speaker 1: will just summarize a few parts for you. You can
Speaker 1: read the full letter on enzidherld dot co dot nz
Speaker 1: if you're interested. She goes onto detail growing up and
Speaker 1: how her father died. She references being overseas, meeting her
Speaker 1: friend Susan and Pheasant, a relationship with a man named Graham,
Speaker 1: she was never besotted. It reads then to meeting Polkinghorn
Speaker 1: a blind Foundation dinner Monday, Philip ratting On my door
Speaker 1: and saying, are you talking to me? After the kiss
Speaker 1: on Friday night? We must have lunch on Thursday. It
Speaker 1: mentions taking a taxi to the French cafe on the Thursday.
Speaker 1: It says, she tells the taxi driver, I am about
Speaker 1: to make a decision that is going to affect the
Speaker 1: rest of my life. It reads, Philip took my hand,
Speaker 1: heart flipping, I was sold and the rest is what
Speaker 1: we have. It goes on to mention family, their life.
Speaker 1: We have been going through some tough times. It reads,
Speaker 1: I thought we were a unit. It then goes on
Speaker 1: to detail a couple of instances. It reads, what he
Speaker 1: said to me that night was not only devastating, and
Speaker 1: there was lots of it, but the key thing that
Speaker 1: hurt was our last twenty five years is a waste
Speaker 1: of time. It was incredible. I almost still cannot take
Speaker 1: it in.
Speaker 2: And we've got that reference too. Then all hel broke loose.
Speaker 2: I have not behaved as he wanted, and I cry,
Speaker 2: I'm gutted. Been holding it in for so long? Can
Speaker 2: you see that? Yes, then that is wrong. So that's
Speaker 2: the crime, holding it in. And he is angry and
Speaker 2: doesn't want to name me or my issues for me
Speaker 2: for that matter, and then it reads who who's in
Speaker 2: fact ricked all these brackets? Twenty seven? Did I get
Speaker 2: it wrong? That he was the truly loved me as
Speaker 2: is number one? I was number one in someone's life
Speaker 2: as he was in mind? Have we got that wrong?
Speaker 2: Question mark? Question mark? God, what a prospect dash? I
Speaker 2: cannot live if that is the result that if I
Speaker 2: have got it wrong? So those are who words correct?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 1: The Crown then called Detective Andrew Reeves. He examined mobile
Speaker 1: phones belonging to Polkinghorn, a phone belonging to Hannah, a laptop,
Speaker 1: eleven external hard drives and USB drives. He starts with
Speaker 1: polking Horn's iPhone.
Speaker 6: There were eight hundred and twenty six images of adult pornography.
Speaker 6: There were approximately three thousand, six hundred and eighty six
Speaker 6: images of sexual nature, and included in the title were
Speaker 6: three thous five hundred and twenty five images from something
Speaker 6: called cam sites, which are paid subscription sites where people
Speaker 6: form themselves. The majority of those images were of women naked,
Speaker 6: party naked, or.
Speaker 1: Masturbating on the videos. Reeves found more than three thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred on Polkinghorn's phone. They included ones of Ashton
Speaker 1: in various states of undress and performing sex acts.
Speaker 6: There was then two further videos which were again of
Speaker 6: that laptop with the screenplaying, and a video of miss
Speaker 6: Ashton essentially modeling underwear and walking around in lingerie, and
Speaker 6: it involved a sex act by mister Polkinghorn. While watching
Speaker 6: the video.
Speaker 2: What was it? Metad out of date for that creation.
Speaker 6: The twenty seventh of the second twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: One, Reeves looked at different messages on the phone. He
Speaker 1: focuses on some between Alaria and Polkinghorn.
Speaker 6: The e text messages were between the eleventh April twenty
Speaker 6: twenty one and fifteenth of April, and approximately just after
Speaker 6: ten pm ten oh three pm on the twelfth of
Speaker 6: April twenty twenty one, mister Polkinghorn texted missus Pop Constantino
Speaker 6: and said, Hi, I know it's late, but are you
Speaker 6: still I was thinking of ubering over. So it was
Speaker 6: the day of that one, twelfth of April twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: This was just seven days after Hannah's death. There were
Speaker 1: numerous WhatsApp messages between Polkinghorn and Madison Ashton, but Reeves
Speaker 1: said he was unable to find any from before April fifth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, when Hannah was found dead. On that day,
Speaker 1: messages begin about four to twenty eight pm. Ashton sends
Speaker 1: polking Horn a link to an image of herself in
Speaker 1: a swimsuit. More messages in the days after Hannah's death,
Speaker 1: photos of a Lambshank recipe, she's cooking for her children
Speaker 1: or her two Chihuahua dogs.
Speaker 6: Four twenty am. In the morning of the seventh of April,
Speaker 6: She's foughted an article in stuff which talks about them,
Speaker 6: of the death and how the post mortem is going
Speaker 6: to be carried out.
Speaker 1: Reeves moves on through pages of messages between the pair.
Speaker 1: More messages, photos of Ashton's dogs, references to her at
Speaker 1: a salon, selfie's a plastic surgery procedure. On April eight,
Speaker 1: Polkinghorn says his sister Ruth spent hours with police that day.
Speaker 1: He tells her police won't release the post mortem results
Speaker 1: to his QC, so they're going to try and arrange
Speaker 1: another autopsy. Ashton sends information about plastic surgery treatments on
Speaker 1: April ten. The messages continue daily over a page thirty two.
Speaker 6: Now on this page a link again is sent from
Speaker 6: doctor Polkinghorn via WhatsApp it's a video and I'm not
Speaker 6: actually sure what that is. Then Miss Ashton replies, honestly,
Speaker 6: I really love you, and then she responds, do not
Speaker 6: wear an iffing bow tie at the funeral.
Speaker 5: Keep the hat.
Speaker 1: On April thirteen, she sends a photo it's inside of
Speaker 1: a fridge, presumably hers. It's dirty, something spilled.
Speaker 6: Sends another photo from a different angle, and then straight
Speaker 6: after that follows up with let's come up with home duties.
Speaker 1: Who does what? Which one is that?
Speaker 5: So that's page thirty six.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's some of the thirteenth thirty PM.
Speaker 6: Yes, she sends a message talking about home duties. Shortly
Speaker 6: after that, Doctor Pokinghorn replies, don't recognize that refrigerator must
Speaker 6: be the neighbors, obviously, in reference to the photos of
Speaker 6: the dirty inside of the refrigerator. Possession replies don't. And
Speaker 6: then a bit later, at eleven twenty two pm, doctor
Speaker 6: Polkinhorn replies with I am good at ironing and grocery shopping,
Speaker 6: putting the rubbish out, and can cook. I am very
Speaker 6: good at judging shakes and can freeze bananas. I can
Speaker 6: water plants, watch dogs pick up poos point out the imperfections.
Speaker 6: I'm a natural at ignoring the obvious spotting expired milk
Speaker 6: reading history, and he then follows that up with I
Speaker 6: will run the picture past the refrigeration engineer again obviously
Speaker 6: in reference to the dirty fridge.
Speaker 1: On April fifteen, she says, good day, darling.
Speaker 6: The later on the fifteenth, doctor Polkinhorn says, I will
Speaker 6: call you in about two hours, that's at five or
Speaker 6: eight pm. On the fifteenth of April, at five fifty
Speaker 6: five pm, Mistation replies with, I just remember that you're
Speaker 6: at the service. Would have been a big day. I
Speaker 6: believe this is in reference to the funeral server for
Speaker 6: Pauline Hanner message at ten fifteen pm from doctor Tolkinghorn
Speaker 6: saying I've been having back as I thought I would
Speaker 6: have some good news. Unfortunately, in spite of promises, not
Speaker 6: the case. That's late on the evening of the fifteenth,
Speaker 6: at ten to fifteen pm, the Session replies with, oh,
Speaker 6: that's through disappointing. Only consolation you have is that it's
Speaker 6: nearly over. At least you knew coming into this that
Speaker 6: it was going to be a shitty day. And then XOXO,
Speaker 6: love view a whole.
Speaker 1: Lot Polkinhorn's phone was taken by police on April sixteen.
Speaker 1: Reeves also explains some Google searches on twenty seventh of
Speaker 1: March twenty twenty one, how the brain controls pleasure, another
Speaker 1: search for how to change the password on a Mac,
Speaker 1: A search for Christine McQueen's OnlyFans account. On April fifth,
Speaker 1: about five pm, a search for how to delete iCloud storage.
Speaker 1: The time correlates with him leaving the police station after
Speaker 1: his recorded police interview, the one we saw earlier in
Speaker 1: the trial. On April six, there's another search how to
Speaker 1: record on iPhone and how to transfer iCloud storage on
Speaker 1: a new Mac laptop, and then a search on duck
Speaker 1: Duck Go. It's a search engine designed not to be trackable.
Speaker 1: It's all about privacy, Reeves said, but only when you
Speaker 1: use the app.
Speaker 2: The I phone twelve Safari search had been deleted on the.
Speaker 6: Device correct, but was able to be recovered. And what
Speaker 6: was search search term was leg edema after strangulation.
Speaker 1: So this search leg edema after strangulation was done. On
Speaker 1: April six, twenty twenty one, about five point thirty pm,
Speaker 1: Reeves goes through the activity on Polkinghorn's phone on April fourth.
Speaker 1: The phone is locked at eleven sixteen pm and it's
Speaker 1: unlocked at one ten am. WhatsApp is then accessed. The
Speaker 1: phones then turned to airplane mode. At one seventeen am,
Speaker 1: the note app is accessed, the photos and Videos app
Speaker 1: is used. We don't know what he viewed. This happens
Speaker 1: sporadically up until two forty four am. That's when the
Speaker 1: phone's locked. At six forty six am it's opened, the
Speaker 1: photos and videos app used Until eight oh five am
Speaker 1: the mobile phone app is used, but unable to work
Speaker 1: given airplane mode is on, and then WhatsApp is accessed again.
Speaker 6: No message though, as they were deleted. At auto six am,
Speaker 6: the mobile phone app was used again, which is the
Speaker 6: app you would use to make a phone call. It
Speaker 6: says they're no needtwork activity possible possibly excuse me at
Speaker 6: ato six then the display is off again and at
Speaker 6: eighteen am the phone is again unlocked, and at eighteen
Speaker 6: am the mobile phone app is used to make an
Speaker 6: outgoing call, which was later confirmed to be a call
Speaker 6: to Ruth Hughes from the Solida Tolco data.
Speaker 1: You remember Polkinghorn rang one one one At eight six
Speaker 1: am that morning. Reeves also looked into hard drives and
Speaker 1: USB drives. Various photos were found, one showing a glass
Speaker 1: of wine next to a math pipe with sweet path
Speaker 1: written on the side. It was created at twenty sixth
Speaker 1: of June twenty nineteen, after three am.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's quite dark and a bit hard to see.
Speaker 6: But when I zoomed into that rectangular part of the photograph,
Speaker 6: because there's a mirrored wall in the room, it's obviously
Speaker 6: a reflection. And what is in the reflection is, in
Speaker 6: my understanding, Dr Polkinghorn. It looks like him. I've seen
Speaker 6: many pictures of doctor Polkinhorn. I've met doctor Polkinhorn, so
Speaker 6: I believe that's him in the photograph. He has his
Speaker 6: phone in his hand in is obviously taking that photo.
Speaker 6: He's naked whilst taking the photo.
Speaker 1: More images of Ashton, thousands of them across different drives.
Speaker 1: Images from twenty nineteen show the inside of Ashton's apartment,
Speaker 1: Polkinhorn's reflection in a mirror, naked selfies of different women,
Speaker 1: WhatsApp screenshot conversations about meeting for sex with Ashton. Text
Speaker 1: messages to sex worker Lee about meeting her and having
Speaker 1: sex with other males and then onto more drives.
Speaker 6: It contained multiple saved pornographic videos from online sites. This
Speaker 6: external hydrivet also contained images of naked female and females,
Speaker 6: and some of them we believe to be Lee Petterson
Speaker 6: and Medicine Ashton. There was also multiple savid images of
Speaker 6: not tying techniques.
Speaker 1: Reeves then moves on to the analysis of Hannah's phone.
Speaker 1: He said the final entry on the timeline was a
Speaker 1: calendar appointment Hannah had created for dinner with PJP, saved
Speaker 1: for April fifth, seven pm, but by that time should
Speaker 1: be dead. His evidence will continue on day twenty. You
Speaker 1: can listen to episodes of Accused the Polkinghorn Trial through
Speaker 1: the front Page podcast feed or find it on iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. This series is presented
Speaker 1: and produced by me Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan Siles
Speaker 1: and sound engineer Patti Fox. Additional reporting from the Heralds
Speaker 1: Craig Captan and George Block, and for more coverage of
Speaker 1: the Polkinghorn Trial, head to Enzhrold dot co dot nz