A woman has been jailed for 12 years for murdering her husband of almost 30 years, after claiming his death was a tragic accident.
Daryl Berman, 72, had denied stabbing her 84-year-old husband, David Berman, at their home in Prestwich, Greater Manchester.
Berman, a prominent member of Manchester’s Jewish community who’d recently been diagnosed with dementia, was found lying in a pool of his own blood in the kitchen.
His wife dialled 999 and, when police arrived, they initially accepted her explanation that he had fallen onto a knife he was carrying on a lunch tray.
But the jury heard how suspicions were raised when two pathologists carried out post-mortems on Berman and found his injuries were more characteristic of a fatal attack than an accident.
Daryl Berman (Police handout)[Missing Credit]
Sentencing the murderess to life behind bars, with a minimum term of 12 years, judge Tina Landale said she was satisfied Berman had not intended to kill her husband but had intended to cause him “really serious harm”.
The judge said Berman had “never given a truthful account” of what happened.
“I am satisfied that something must have happened that caused you to lose your patience or temper and caused you to attack David with a knife that you had earlier used for your lunch,” she said.
She added that, “whatever the trigger was,” Berman must have “immediately regretted” what she’d done.
In a victim's personal statement read to the court, Berman’s son, also called Daryl, said his “life had changed dramatically”.
He said he felt “cheated and deprived” by his father’s death and “not being able to say goodbye to him properly will always be hard to swallow”.
Berman’s daughter Debbie Davis added: "I feel like I am living in my own nightmare or a television programme because things like this are not normal.”
His death had left “a massive void,” and she felt “bereft and cheated that he’s been taken away from all,” she continued.
Berman had denied murder and claimed she’d rushed into the kitchen after hearing two loud “thuds” to find her stricken husband on the floor.
Seeing him had felt like an "out of body experience”, she said, and the whole kitchen floor was “bright red”.
But a jury found her guilty following a trial at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
The jury heard how paramedics were called to the couple’s address around 2pm, on March 13, last year.
Berman had told a 999 operator, who asked her what happened: “I don’t know. I was in the other room. He’s carried a tray in.
“And all I can see is the tray. I think there was a knife I don’t know whether the little knife that was there has gone into him and stabbed him.
“I really don’t know what happened.”
During the same call, Berman claimed that her husband ‘slipped’ while he was in the kitchen and that “blood is coming from his mouth”.
The call operator then instructed her to start compressions and Berman repeatedly shouted, “Push, push, push”.
When paramedics arrived, they found Mr Berman on the kitchen floor, with the tray, a 12cm long paring knife, and a broken plate next to him, the jury heard.
Attempts were made to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead around 40 minutes later.
Davis, who’d earlier accompanied him on a visit to a soft-play centre with his great-granddaughter, was also called to the address.
She’d received a call from Berman, who told her: “I don’t know if your dad’s dead or alive and there’s blood everywhere.”
Debbie recalled “screaming” after seeing her father being worked on by paramedics and seeing so much blood in the kitchen, saying: “it was like an abattoir”.
When police were called to the scene, Berman asked them: “You don’t think I've murdered him, do you?”
Giving evidence in court, Berman maintained that she’d played no role in her husband’s death after the jury heard he’d been in “declining health” and needed a walking stick to get around.
He had also been diagnosed with dementia, had a pneumothorax, and a calcification in the upper chambers of his heart.
Berman told police he was prone to falls, and when speaking to a neighbour about her husband’s dementia, she told him: “This my life now.”
Michael Hayton, defending, described it as a “deeply unusual” case.
He said the Bermans’ own children had spoken of the couple “adoring each other” and how Berman had nursed her husband back to health after a previous fall.
Hayton added that it will never be known what led to the violence that day, but whatever the reason, it was not premeditated and it was short-lived.
The jury heard how the couple had been together for 30 years and married for 27 years and had a loving relationship, with Berman supportive of her husband.
But, in the aftermath of his death, some members of his family noted how “matter-of-fact” and “emotionless” she appeared.
Dr Philip Lumb, a pathologist instructed by the prosecution, maintained that it was “inconceivable” that Berman’s death was accidental and that a 2.5cm stab wound to his chest and a “defensive” wound to his finger were more characteristic of a fatal attack.
However, Dr Richard Shepherd, a pathologist instructed by the defence who has investigated high-profile cases including Princess Diana, 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings, disagreed that Mr Berman had suffered a “defensive” wound to his finger and said he “can’t exclude accident or homicide”.
He told the jury one scenario out of possible hundreds was that Mr Berman had fallen to the floor, picked up the knife in his right hand, and then, as he tried to get up, fallen again.
Berman had faced a retrial after a jury at the previous trial, in December 2025, was discharged having failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge.
Speaking after the sentencing, Sazeeda Ismail, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Daryl Berman stabbed her husband of 27 years in the chest and intentionally caused his death.
“She lied to paramedics, police and family members when she claimed Mr Berman had accidentally sustained his fatal injuries.
“The jury saw through her lies and convicted her of murder, due to the strength of the prosecution’s case.
“My thoughts are with David Berman’s loved ones at this very difficult time.”
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