A former international hockey player has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his wife and attempting to cover up the crime by claiming she had taken her own life.
Mohamed Samak, 43, was ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years after being found guilty of murdering his wife, 49-year-old Joanne Samak, at their home in Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, on 1 July last year.
During a retrial at Worcester Crown Court, jurors heard that Samak stabbed his wife six times in the chest and stomach before falsely telling police she had inflicted the wounds herself. His first trial earlier this year ended without a verdict.
Prosecutors said Samak, a former Egyptian international hockey player and coach for Wales’s under-18 team, killed his wife amid financial difficulties and an interest in another woman.
He claimed during the trial that Joanne had been struggling with alcohol and mental health issues, but witnesses told the court she had no such problems and was looking forward to future plans.
The court heard the couple met in 2011 when Joanne stayed at a hotel in Taba, Egypt, where Samak worked in entertainment. They married in 2014 and later settled in Worcestershire but had experienced difficulties in their marriage and slept in separate rooms.
Samak, who also played for England men over-40s, held multiple roles in hockey over the years, including as a coach at Malvern College and Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School.
