Jewish wife murder trial collapses after jury deadlock over Prestwich pensioner’s death

A murder trial involving a Jewish woman accused of killing her elderly husband has collapsed after jurors were unable to agree on a verdict, the Manchester Evening News reported, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to seek a retrial.

Daryl Berman, 71, had denied murdering her husband David Berman, 84, who died from a single stab wound at the couple’s home in Prestwich, north Manchester. She maintained throughout the trial that his death was a “tragic accident”.

After more than seven hours of deliberations following an eight-day hearing, the jury at Minshull Street Crown Court remained deadlocked. Two jurors had already been discharged earlier in the trial due to illness.

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Judge Tina Landale formally discharged the jury and granted the prosecutors time to consider whether to pursue a retrial.

The court heard that Mr Berman’s death on 13 March this year was initially treated by police as accidental. Mrs Berman had called emergency services shortly before 2pm, reporting that her husband was injured. He was pronounced dead at the scene later that afternoon.

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Only later, jurors were told, did concerns arise after a senior Home Office pathologist reviewed the case. Prosecutor Michael Brady KC said Dr Philip Lumb concluded the chest wound showed “typical features of a homicide”, describing an accidental fall onto a knife as “very unlikely”, though not impossible.

Prosecutors also pointed to an injury on Mr Berman’s finger, suggesting it could have been sustained while attempting to defend himself. However, the jury heard there was no history of domestic violence, police involvement or marital instability during the couple’s 27-year marriage, which was repeatedly described as loving and mutually supportive.

Giving her evidence in her own defence, Mrs Berman told the court she had “absolutely not” been involved in her husband’s death. Asked directly by her barrister, Michael Hayton KC, whether she murdered him, she replied: “I did not.”

She said that after returning from shopping in Manchester city centre, she ate lunch on a tray in the living room, using a knife to cut a sandwich. She told jurors that her husband later offered to carry the tray into the kitchen.

Moments later, she said, she heard a noise “like a stumble or a slip”, followed by a groan. When she ran into the kitchen, she found him face down, bleeding heavily and unresponsive.

Mrs Berman said she froze in shock before calling 999 and attempting to turn him over with guidance from the operator. She became visibly distressed while recalling the aftermath, telling the jury she later lay beside her husband’s body, kissing and stroking his arm after police had initially treated the death as accidental.

Prosecutors invited jurors to consider what they described as Mrs Berman’s “matter of fact” demeanour in the days following the death, though they acknowledged there is no single way to grieve.

The case now remains unresolved. A further hearing will be scheduled once prosecutors decide whether the matter will be retried.