Former hockey international jailed for wife’s murder in Droitwich

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.”

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 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 no to have a mummy.”

She added: “We will never get over her loss.”

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 in Droitwich, where they found the body of Mrs Samak.

She had been stabbed six times but Samak had waited for over an hour after his wife’s death to phone.

He claimed this was down down to “confusion and shock”, but during the delay, his 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 of her murder on Wednesday and sobbed when the unanimous guilty verdict was returned.