A former hockey coach, who also played internationally, has been found guilty of murdering his wife. During the trial, police uncovered blood-stained clothing in the couple’s home.

The 43-year-old Mohamed Samak broke down in tears in the courtroom as the jury announced the guilty verdict.

Overcome with emotion, Samak collapsed to the ground, continuing to sob loudly while the judge discussed the upcoming sentencing procedures.

Previously a coach at Malvern College, Samak was accused of murdering his wife, Joanne, who was an interior designer. The couple’s relationship had deteriorated, and Samak was reportedly struggling to secure steady employment.

The sentencing for Samak is scheduled to take place on Friday.

Judge James Burbidge KC told the wailing defendant: ‘It is beyond comprehension why you would take the life of your wife.’ 

He claimed Mrs Samak, 49, stabbed herself, telling police she had been struggling with her mental health and alcohol. 

Up to 30 of the Mrs Samak’s relatives, friends and neighbours packed the public gallery each day of the five-week trial. 

Samak’s unanimous conviction following just over four-and-a-half hours of deliberations  comes eight months after jurors had been unable to reach a verdict in an earlier trial.

Egyptian Samak, who had previously represented his homeland at international level and was a member of the England over-40s hockey squad, claimed his wife stabbed herself in the stomach and chest in July 2024 after struggling with alcohol.  

But in his opening of the case last month, prosecutor Matthew Brook KC told the court: ‘We are sure that the defendant stabbed his wife and murdered her.’

Jurors heard the defendant had been under financial pressure – and had enjoyed a liaison with an ‘old flame’ in London shortly before the murder.

In a dramatic development, mid-way through the trial police returned to the murder scene in Droitwich, Worcestershire, to carry out a fresh search of the property – and jurors were told 49-year-old Mrs Samak’s blood had been found on a sock and on a black, hockey t-shirt belonging to her husband.

The items, which also included a flannel and a grey long-sleeved top, were inside a bag containing Mrs Samak’s clothes which her killer had hidden in the loft of the marital  home. 

But Worcester Crown Court court heard that earlier this year, the house was emptied by Mrs Samak’s family and the bags in the loft were moved to the garage, where police found them on October 10. 

West Mercia Police has said it has not referred itself to the police watchdog over the failure to uncover potentially crucial evidence earlier in the investigation, and has so far declined to reveal what led officers to re-search the Samak’s home. 

But the oversight raises questions over the force’s handling of the early stages of the investigation.

Outside court, Mrs Samak’s cousin, Robert Randall, said, ‘I don’t think the family will ever be able to forgive him for putting them through this twice. He tried to cover his tracks at every stage.’

Jo’s father Dick Vale said: ‘There are no winners in this but we do have justice for Jo.’

Asked about the police missing his bloodied clothes in their first investigation, he said, ‘These things can happen but they have got it right second time around.

‘There was overwhelming evidence of his guilt anyway and the clothes were just the icing on the cake.’

Asked about Samak’s wailing in the dock and yelling out of his son’s name after the verdict was delivered, he said, ‘It has been a pretense all along. He cried and cried during his evidence but there were no real tears.’

Jurors heard that a neighbour had been woken by a scream at 3.10am on July 1 last year – but that Samak waited almost an hour before dialling 999.

He told a 999 call handler he had found his wife – who slept in a separate bedroom to him – and that ‘she’s got a knife in her tummy’, the court heard.

Mr Brook said that Samak told the operator that he had gone to the toilet, looked inside his wife’s bedroom and seen her slumped, half in, half out of her bed.

Samak had described turning her over and seeing first blood and then the knife before attempting CPR until the police and medics arrived.

Mr Brook said that Samak later changed his story and told police that he had seen his wife stabbing herself in the stomach.

He said he had waited an hour to call police because he was ‘in shock’.

Mrs Samak – who had been making preparations for her 50th birthday celebrations in August and was planning a trip to Paris with friends when she died – suffered multiple stab wounds but it was a knife wound to the heart that killed her.

Giving evidence in court earlier this month, Samak told the jury how he had found his wife attacking herself with a knife in her bedroom just after 3am.

He sobbed repeatedly as he described his brain ‘shutting down’ when confronted with the horror.

He said that he watched his wife take ‘her final two breaths’ and ‘did not know what to do’.

Samak claimed his wife was lying between the bed and a chest of drawers and as he pulled her into a ‘wider space’ he ended up with her blood on his top.

‘I was scared that the finger would be pointed at me’, he told the court. ‘I had blood on my clothes.’

Samak claimed he ‘panicked’ and ‘used the sock to cover the blood on the sleeve’ and remove his top.

Asked what he did next, he said he put the bloodied items in another bag containing clothes which was already in the bedroom – and then put that in the loft.

‘My head was telling me to put it away because I was going to get the blame’, he claimed. ‘I was terrified.’

During cross-examination, Mr Brook told Samak that he was a liar and had got blood on his clothes after he had stabbed his wife to death.

‘You repeatedly lied to the police. You were thinking, ‘I’ll keep giving the same account until evidence forces me to change my account’,’ said Mr Brook.

Samak said: ‘I lied out of fear. I felt the blame would be on me because I got blood on my clothes. I am a liar. But I’m not a killer.

‘I did not kill my wife.’

But the court heard Mrs Samak – who was the main breadwinner – had prepared for the day ahead.

She had sett an alarm on her phone for the monring, when she was due to drive to Hampshire with a colleague  to dress a show home. 

Jurors also heard that she had hung out a red dress to wear – suggesting she had no indication of the violence that would follow. 

In the weeks leading up to the murder, the court heard Samak had travelled to London – telling his wife he was meeting a fellow hockey coach – for a liaison with another woman.

Samak had told jurors at his first trial he had first met Fadila Fadou in 2009 when she stayed at the hotel where he worked in Egypt. 

The latest trial heard he arranged to meet her after she had got back in touch with him on social media in 2022.

Samak told the jury the pair went out for lunch and dinner and had kissed in his car, adding: ‘The emotional feelings I was missing in the marriage, I was getting from outside the marriage.’

The trial heard Samak was named on a number of insurance policies as a beneficiary in the event of his wife’s death . 

Jurors were told Samak suggested to a fellow hockey coach that his wife was drinking a bottle of wine a night.

The coach, Mark Moss, described Samak as a ‘brilliant coach’ who was ‘very successful in coaching people and had people skills’.

Samak was head coach of the Welsh under-18s boys and girls hockey and previously head of boys’ hockey at Malvern College until 2021, which costs up to £57,285-a-year to attend.

He met his wife in 2011 when she was on holiday in Egypt and he was in charge of sports and activities provision for guests at the Hilton hotel where she stayed.

The couple married in 2014 but during a night out with friends less than 48 hours before she died, Mrs Samak admitted that she no longer loved the defendant, but felt she could not leave him as he would not survive in the UK without her. 

Mrs Samak was made redundant in March 2024 but went on to set up a new interior design company with eight of her former colleagues, called Chapter 9 Design.

Following the verdict, Jonathan Roe, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Mohamed Samak killed his wife and tried to claim she had taken her own life, repeatedly lying to police to avoid responsibility.

‘This callous attempt to present his crime as a suicide has caused further anguish to Jo’s family.

‘Thankfully, the jury saw through his lies and convicted him for this heinous crime against a defenceless woman who had her whole life to look forward to – and could never have imagined her own husband would cause her such serious harm. Jo’s family have shown great dignity and strength through this difficult process, and our thoughts are with them.’

Detective Inspetor Mark Walters, the Senior Investigating Officer for West Mercia Police, said: “Whilst I am pleased that Mohamed Samak will face a substantial number of years in prison following today’s guilty verdict, the loss of Joanne will continue to be felt deeply by her family and friends, and our thoughts remain with them.

“I would particularly like to pay tribute to Joannes family who, despite the continuous lies by the defendant regarding the events leading to her death, have remained dignified and courageous throughout”.

In a statement released through the force, Mrs Samak’s family said she was ‘kind and caring to everyone that touched her life’ and added:: ‘Jo’s zest for life was infectious. She was generous, creative and full of fun, with a wonderful sense of style and a passion for interior design, fashion, art and nature.

“Jo had so much more life to live, and we will miss her and love her forever”.