Jury unable to reach verdict in Daryl Berman murder trial

A jury at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard how she ate lunch after returning home from a shopping trip.

She claimed Mr Berman had taken away her tray and she then heard two loud thumps from the kitchen, prompting her run in and find the great-grandfather “gurgling” and face down on the floor surrounded by blood.

Berman dialled 999 and told a call handler that he had “slipped” and “blood was coming from his mouth”.

She said she performed CPR until paramedics arrived who found Mr Berman with a tray, a 12cm long paring knife and a broken plate next to him.

Berman told them he’d fallen over while carrying the tray and “landed on the knife”.

Attempts were made to resuscitate Mr Berman, who’d gone into cardiac arrest, but he was pronounced dead around 40 minutes later.

When police were called to the scene Berman asked them: “You don’t think I’ve murdered him do you?”

They initially accepted her version of events and she was treated as a witness rather than a suspect.

In the aftermath of Mr Berman’s death, the jury heard, members of his family noticed how “matter of fact” and “emotionless” his wife appeared.

Suspicions were raised when two forensic pathologists carried out post-mortems on Mr Berman, a well-known member of Manchester’s Jewish community.

They found that a 2.5cm long stab wound to his chest and another “defensive” injury to his middle finger were more characteristic of a fatal attack than an accident.

Berman was eventually arrested but maintained her husband’s death was a tragic accident.

In one interview, she told detectives she’d “screamed” after finding her husband and had the “shock of her life” seeing so much blood.

She later answered no comment to questions put to her.

Giving evidence, she said she’d felt “numb” after her husband’s “most horrendous accident” and she denied having any involvement in his death.

After hearing him “stumble or slip” in the kitchen she’d shouted, “David what’s wrong?” before hearing a second noise “like a groan”.

Berman said she’d then “screamed” before running in and going into “shock”.

Later, she told the jury, she had cradled her dead husband because she wanted her “last moments” with him.

Berman said she wrote “Bye, bye” on a calendar that night because she also used it to note the anniversary of her mother and father’s deaths.

Under cross-examination, she denied a “guilty conscience” being the reason for her asking police whether she was under suspicion.

She also denied becoming “angry or frustrated” towards her husband and then “lashing out” with the knife.

Defence witness Dr Richard Shepherd, a retired forensic pathologist who has been involved in high-profile investigations including the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings, said Mr Berman had more likely died in an “unusual” and “odd” stabbing accident.

Mr Berman had been in “declining heath”, the jury heard, and as well as dementia, he had suffered a pneumothorax, calcification in the upper chambers of the heart, and had undergone two hip procedures.

Berman told police her husband was prone to falls and needed a walking stick. When speaking to a neighbour about her husband’s dementia, she told him: “This my life now.”

But she told the jury: “I loved him and just wanted to take care of him.”

The jury also heard how the couple’s marriage was described as “loving and mutually supportive” and that there was no domestic violence or other history on police systems.

Furthermore, Berman was “very supporting and loving” and there were no concerns about her behaviour toward her husband.

Judge Tina Landale told Berman she had discharged the jury as they were unable to reach a majority verdict, and the prosecution would now decide whether she will face a retrial.

The judge granted a defence bail application on condition police retain Berman’s travel documents, she resides at her home address and does not contact prosecution witnesses.