18 June 2023 , 14:01
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A woman accused of stabbing her husband to death after an argument in the kitchen allegedly went on to cut onions with the same knife, a court heard.
Teresa Hanson, 54, denies murdering her husband Paul on December 28, just days after they had a Christmas Day lunch with their family.
The prosecution claims the woman stabbed the victim in the chest with a kitchen knife, causing "catastrophic and fatal damage" to his heart, after she had been cooking, chopping onions, and drinking red wine.
Mrs Hanson made a 999 call for an ambulance and said that she stabbed her husband "just out of anger" after they had an argument.
She said that she did not mean to do it and that there was a lot of blood, reports Hull Live.
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Mr Hanson was found lying at the end of a "trail of blood" and was dead on arrival at Hull Royal Infirmary, despite the "heroic" efforts of paramedics.
Teresa Hanson is accused of killing her husband Paul (Hull Daily Mail / MEN Media)The woman claimed that she had no idea that her husband Paul was fatally injured, even though the knife would have been contaminated with "fatty deposits" and other material from his badly wounded body, the court.
She claimed that she did not hear one shout, groan, cry or moan from him. She was completely unaware that he had left a trail of blood and had collapsed in the dining room, Hull Crown Court heard.
During the police interview, Mrs Hanson declined to answer questions and merely gave a pre-prepared statement.
She claimed that her husband walked into the knife after she turned round while holding it, but a pathologist claimed that this was "highly unlikely". Mrs Hanson claimed that the stabbing was an accident and that she did not intend to kill or seriously injure him.
Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald KC asked Mrs Hanson why, if the stabbing was just a "terrible accident" and her husband was supposedly "the love of your life", she had repeatedly answered, "No comment" during three police interviews.
She claimed that she had sometimes looked at the representative to ask if she should say something in answer to questions, but she was advised to say, "No comment". She claimed: "There were some factors that I would have said."
Mr MacDonald questioned Mrs Hanson's claim that she had time to carry on chopping and then cooking onions between the stabbing and finally realising that her husband had been seriously injured. At the time, she was making a Mediterranean tart with cheese.
Paul Hanson was stabbed to death at home (Humberside Police / SWNS)
The woman denies murdering her husband (Hull Daily Mail/MEN Media)He said that the cooking time alone for the onions would have been a minimum of at least 10 minutes. Mrs Hanson agreed, but claimed: "I don't know how long it was."
She continued to claim that she had gone back to chopping and cooking onions before realising that her husband was badly injured. "That's the truth," she claimed.
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Mr MacDonald asked: "You carried on with the onions?" Mrs Hanson replied: "Yes."
Mr MacDonald said that photographs of the knife showed that it had fatty deposits and other material from her husband on it – and he asked whether she still claimed that she just carried on chopping onions. Mrs Hanson replied: "Yes, because I didn't know."
Mr MacDonald asked: "You carried on with the pastry?" Mrs Hanson replied: "Yes."
Mr MacDonald asked whether she had any clue whether her husband had been fatally injured or injured at all. She replied: "No."
Mr MacDonald asked whether her husband gasped or cried out, or gave any sign of pain or injury – especially as the knife had penetrated his heart and aorta. Mrs Hanson said: "No."
She claimed her husband did not screamMr MacDonald asked whether her husband was winded or even groaned. Mrs Hanson replied: "No."
Mr MacDonald said that her husband would have been dripping blood and he asked whether she looked at him. Mrs Hanson replied: "No." She claimed: "I just chopped the onions."
Mr MacDonald asked whether her husband had shouted or said anything like "What have you done to me?" or "Help me, help me", but Mrs Hanson claimed that he did not and that he just walked away.
Mr MacDonald said: "It's just not true, is it?" and he asked if she heard her husband, who weighed nearly 15 stone, fall. Mrs Hanson replied: "We had music on."
Mr MacDonald asked: "You heard not a thing, not a cry for help or moan?" Mrs Hanson replied: "No. I wish I had." Mr MacDonald asked: "There were no words or signs of distress?" Mrs Hanson replied: "No."
She said that she found him in the dining room. "I ran over to him," she said. "I was shocked. I didn't know what happened."
Police at the home where Paul Hanson was stabbed (MEN MEDIA)Mr MacDonald asked: "Did you think he had had a heart attack?" Mrs Hanson claimed: "I didn't know what it was. I just ran over to him to see what had happened to him. I didn't know what had happened."
Mr MacDonald claimed: "This is a deliberate stab." Mrs Hanson claimed that it was not immediately apparent how seriously injured her husband was.
"I knew he was injured but I didn't know where it was coming from," she claimed. Mr MacDonald told her: "I suggest that this is just lies. You intended to stab him because you were angry and you stabbed him out of anger."
Mrs Hanson replied: "No. I haven't done anything like that before. I did not." Mr MacDonald asked: "Did you not want the police at your house?" Mrs Hanson replied: "I wasn't bothered." She had told the police in a 999 call: "If you want to come, you can."
Mr MacDonald claimed: "All this demonstrates that you knew what you had done. You stabbed him out of anger during the course of an argument."
He asked "why on earth" Mrs Hanson did not just say to the police that it "was all a terrible accident", but she replied: "I just panicked. I just didn't know what to say or think."
Mr MacDonald claimed: "An innocent person would just tell them exactly what had happened." Mrs Hanson replied: "I just took advice."
Teresa Hanson having a family lunch on Christmas Day
Paul pictured days before he was stabbedMrs Hanson admitted that she was angry with her husband for supposedly twice calling her a "b****" and "other things" but she could not explain why she had not included in her prepared statement her claim in court that he told her to throw his tea in the bin.
Mr MacDonald asked her whether she was "just making this up" but Hanson replied: "No."
Mr MacDonald asked whether she accepted that she must have had the knife in her hand when her husband was stabbed. She replied: "Yes."
Mr MacDonald said that she must have had the point of the knife facing towards her husband when he suffered the knife wound. She claimed: "I don't recall."
Mr MacDonald said that the knife must have been firmly held in her hand to penetrate his clothes, his skin and his organs. Hanson replied: "Yes."
She claimed: "I don't know what I did. I have no recollection of how my hands was. I just pushed. It was quick. Too quick to remember the way I stood. I just remember pushing. Paul walked off."
She admitted that she had never been in fear of her husband before and that he had never been violent to her at all. Mr MacDonald asked what, in that case, had she to fear from telling the police what happened instead of saying "No comment" to every question.
She replied: "Nothing. I was in shock."
As part of the bail conditions at a previous hearing, Hanson was told that she would have to live with her parents in Rawcliffe Bridge, near Goole.
The trial continues.