Ex-hockey international jailed for wife's murder

Mohamed Samak has been jailed for life for his wife's murder

An ex-international hockey player who stabbed his wife to death has been jailed for life for her murder.

Egyptian national Mohamed Samak, 43, killed Joanne Samak at their home in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, on 1 July 2024.

A retrial at Worcester Crown Court heard that Mrs Samak, 49, died from multiple stab wounds, which her husband tried to claim were self-inflicted.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Samak was told he would serve a minimum term of 19 years and 247 days

Judge James Burbidge KC described the defendant's lies as a "wicked story".

He added: "I cannot accept you are remorseful because you still deny your accountability."

In court, Samak was dressed in an all-black tracksuit and spent the majority of Friday's hearing shaking his head and muttering to himself. When asked to stand for his sentence, he had to be lifted by the arm by security - who also had to take him out of the box, one staff member on each of Samak's arms.

Penny Vale, the victim's mother, told the court in a statement: "As her mum I am utterly heartbroken and not a day goes by when I don't think of her and cry, she was my baby.

"Hearing of how her life was ended has been the most harrowing moments of my life."

Mrs Samak's mum said hearing about the death of her daughter - pictured - had been the "most harrowing" moments of her life

Mrs Vale said of her daughter: "She was so excited to be a mum in her 40s but now her precious young son has been deprived of his mummy's love."

Mrs Vale said when she told her grandson that his mum had died he told her: "I'm too young not to have a mummy."

She added: "We will never get over her loss."

'Confusion and shock'

During the trial, the court heard how Samak, who worked as a hockey coach and had played for the Egyptian national side, killed his wife before making a panicked call to 999.

"My wife's got a knife in her tummy," he told the call handler, giving the impression his wife had stabbed herself.

Emergency crews were then dispatched to the couple's home on a cul-de-sac, where they found the body of Mrs Samak.

She had been stabbed six times but her husband had waited for more than an hour after his wife's death to phone.

He claimed this was down down to "confusion and shock", but during the delay, the trial heard, he had set to work hiding his bloodstained clothes, which police found bagged up in the attic.

During proceedings, he claimed he hid his clothes in fear the finger of blame would be pointed at him, maintaining he did not inflict the wounds.

Samak was arrested and charged with murder just days after his wife was found.

He was convicted on Wednesday and sobbed when the unanimous guilty verdict was returned.

Mrs Samak's brother Mark Vale also addressed the court by way of a statement on Friday. He said: "It's hard to describe the magnitude of the impact the loss of Jo has had on me and my family.

"She had so much to live for and I never imagined as her older brother I wouldn't get to celebrate her 50th birthday."

Referencing the day he was informed of his sister's death, he said: "Part of me died on that day as well."

He added: "The horror that she must have gone through haunts me every day. I feel like I let her down. She must have been terrified."

Financial problems

Following the collapse of an initial trial earlier this year when the jury was unable to reach a verdict, Samak's retrial got under way in September.

The prosecution argued he had stabbed his wife to death due to financial and marital problems but Samak's defence rested on the claim his wife had taken her own life.

But the court heard Mrs Samak had no reason to do so, and was in fact busy making plans for the future - her own 50th birthday party and a trip to Paris were in her calendar.

The jury also heard the couple had grown apart, and were sleeping in separate beds.

Samak's phone - which contained messages proving he had been meeting with another woman shortly before his wife's death - was also presented in evidence.

The jury took a matter of hours to reach a unanimous verdict.

Following it, the Crown Prosecution Service paid tribute to Mrs Samak's family for the "dignity and strength" they had shown - even as Samak tried to present their relative's murder as suicide.