Overview
- The case arises from an incident on March 13 last year when Daryl Berman called 999 and her husband David was pronounced dead at their Prestwich home after paramedics performed CPR; the death was first treated as accidental and reclassified after a post-mortem led to Mrs Berman’s arrest.
- Prosecution pathologist Dr Philip Lumb told jurors the chest wound was a single stab up to 12cm deep that passed through the right lung toward the heart, caused catastrophic bleeding and was very unlikely to be accidental, and he described the 0.7cm finger wound as defensive.
- Defence expert Dr Richard Shepherd told the court he could not exclude either accident or homicide, described the chest wound as unusual, and proposed scenarios such as Mr Berman falling with a knife on a tray that could explain the injuries.
- Mrs Berman, who denies murder, gave emotional evidence saying she does not know what happened and describing a long, reportedly non-violent marriage and the moments she found her husband, which the defence says fit an accidental account.
- The trial at Minshull Street Crown Court continues and the verdict will turn on which expert account jurors accept, a decision that will determine whether the case is judged a tragic accident or a deliberate killing and will have deep consequences for the couple’s family.