![\"Joanne](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skynews-joanne-samak-mohamed-samak_7067807.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA hockey coach who brutally stabbed his wife to death has been jailed for life and will serve a minimum term of 21 years for her murder.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Samak, 43, stabbed Joanne Samak, 49, six times at their home in Chestnut Spinney, Droitwich Spa, on 1 July last year – but claimed she had taken her own life.<\/p>\n
He was found guilty of her murder on Wednesday after a retrial during which police found new evidence of hidden bloodstained clothing. A jury at an earlier trial had failed to reach a verdict.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors told the court Samak had killed his wife, a successful interior designer, because he was suffering financial problems and had become interested in another woman.<\/p>\n
He believed his wife, who was the main breadwinner, would leave him after problems in their marriage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Joanne Samak. Pic: West Mercia Police\/PA<\/p>\n
“When Jo drew away from you, falling out of love with you, that was something you couldn’t emotionally cope with,” said Judge James Burbidge KC.<\/p>\n
The trial heard Ms Samak had suffered six stab wounds to her chest and abdomen, ranging between 2.5cm and 10cm deep.<\/p>\n
Medical experts told Worcester Crown Court that severe force had been needed to penetrate her breastbone, making it highly unlikely she could have stabbed herself.<\/p>\n
Samak, a former Egyptian international hockey player and coach who worked with the Wales under-18s team, had initially told emergency responders his wife had stabbed herself and he had discovered her wounds, but failed to provide medical attention.<\/p>\n
He also said his wife had alcohol and mental health problems – assertions strongly refuted by her family and friends.<\/p>\n
![\"Samak's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skynews-mohamed-samak-joanne-samak_7067802.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Samak’s arrest. Pic: West Mercia Police\/PA<\/p>\n
On Friday, he was given a life sentence with a minimum 21-year prison term, and the judge described his crimes as “wicked beyond comprehension”.<\/p>\n
He said Samak had destroyed the lives of Ms Samak’s family, and further sought to besmirch her character with false allegations.<\/p>\n
“The emotion you disclose is either feigned or emotion based on self-pity. I cannot accept you are remorseful because you still deny responsibility and put Jo’s loved ones through the trauma of two trials,” the judge said.<\/p>\n
Ms Samak’s mother Penny Vale told the court she would “never get over” the loss of her daughter who “had everything to live for”.<\/p>\n
“As her mum, I am utterly heartbroken and not a day goes by where I don’t think of Jo and cry,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Samak’s brother, Mark Vale, told the court the horror of his sister’s violent death haunts him every day.<\/p>\n
“For this to happen in the home she loved and felt safe in is unthinkable,” he said.<\/p>\n
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