Woman claimed husband ‘fell on knife’ and instructed cops ‘you assume I murdered him do not you’

Daryl Berman, 72, has been found guilty of murdering her husband David Berman, 84, after she claimed he fell onto a kitchen knife in Prestwich, Greater Manchester

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A woman has been convicted of murdering her husband. Daryl Berman, 72, claimed that David Berman, 84, tripped in their kitchen and landed on a ‘little paring knife’ she had used for her lunch.

Mr Berman sustained a lethal chest injury during the incident at their residence on Butterstile Lane, Prestwich in March last year. Prosecutors argued that Berman intentionally stabbed her husband ‘for a reason known only to her’.

She maintained throughout two trials that her husband’s injuries, and subsequent death, were ‘accidental’. Jurors in an earlier trial failed to reach verdicts. On Tuesday (June 23), after a week-long retrial at Minshull Street Crown Court, jurors found Berman guilty of murder, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The court previously heard that Berman dialled 999 at 1.55pm on March 13, 2025, to report that her husband was injured. He was declared dead at their home at 2.39pm.

Prosecutor Michael Brady KC stated it was only later that a senior pathologist was brought in as another doctor was ‘troubled’ by the injury.

Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb reported that the stab wound had ‘typical features of a homicide’. He asserted that although it was not impossible, an accidental fall was ‘very unlikely to have caused the fatal wound’.

Mr Berman was also discovered to have a ‘defensive’ wound to his finger. The couple’s 27-year marriage had been ‘loving and mutually supportive’ and there had been no history of domestic violence or police involvement.

Berman was characterised as a ‘very supportive and loving wife’.

Prosecutors revealed that Mr Berman’s family observed unusual elements of the defendant’s conduct in the days after his death. “Although there is no set way to respond to and deal with grief in the days following David’s death, members of his family noticed how matter of fact and emotionless the defendant was,” prosecutor Michael Brady KC stated.

Mr Brady informed jurors that Berman’s account claiming her husband’s injury had occurred accidentally was initially believed by police.

The court was told Mr Berman had been diagnosed with dementia, relied on a walking stick and had been experiencing ‘shortness of breath’ in the 10 days beforehand. “However, he had been in the best health his family had seen for some time,” Mr Brady continued.

Earlier that day on March 13, Mr Berman had visited a play centre with his daughter and great granddaughter, the court was informed. Jurors heard that Mrs Berman dialled 999 that afternoon and administered CPR following guidance from the operator.

Jurors heard that when questioned about what had occurred, she responded: “I don’t know. I was in the other room. He’s carried a tray in. And all I can see is the tray. I think there was a knife. I don’t know whether the little knife that was there has gone into him and stabbed him. I really don’t know what’s happened.”

The first paramedic on the scene discovered Mr Berman lying on his back on the kitchen floor, it was stated. Following the arrival of a police officer who spoke with Mrs Berman, she allegedly asked him: “You don’t think I’ve murdered him, do you?”.

Prosecutors revealed the officer also conversed with Mr Berman’s son, who described his father as ‘clumsy’ and someone who was ‘always falling’. Mr Berman’s death wasn’t initially regarded as suspicious, but concerns were raised five days later when the pathologist conducted a post-mortem examination, the court was told.

Mrs Berman was detained on suspicion of murder that same evening, jurors heard. While being questioned by police, she informed officers that she and her husband had both eaten lunch in the lounge and that Mr Berman had volunteered to carry her tray to the kitchen.

She informed police: “And he obviously walked into the kitchen, and I heard what sounded like a stumble or a fall. And straight away I said ‘oh my God, David, what’s wrong?’. He said ‘it’s okay I’ve slipped’.

“And I sort of almost immediately heard another sort of bang, and a sort of groan. So I got up. I screamed and I ran into the kitchen.

“And I found him face down. He was making the most peculiar sound, I sort of looked down, moved his head a bit. And I thought ‘what on earth is all this gravy? We don’t have gravy’. And it was the amount of blood, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“I got the shock of my life because I didn’t know where it was coming from. I just… I just couldn’t understand. And I was screaming, I said ‘David, David’… I said ‘you can’t go like this’.”

Providing testimony in her defence, she repeatedly broke into tears.

When asked how she felt upon being informed he had passed away, she sobbed: “I was scrambling, I didn’t know what I was doing. I went into the kitchen on quite a few occasions because I just wanted to be with David. I took the sheet off his face and lay down next to him and cradled his head and told him I loved him.

“I didn’t want to leave him, I wanted to lie next to him. It was the last thing I could do.

“The suggestion is that you murdered your husband of 27 years, did you? ,” Mr Hayton said. “Why would I do that to the man I love? No,” Mrs Berman replied.

“How do you explain how he came to die? ,” the barrister asked. “I have absolutely no idea, I wasn’t in the room.”

During cross-examination by Mr Brady, he said: “Are you lying to this jury?”.

“No, I’m not… everything I have said is the truth,” she replied. “Because you stabbed him and you are responsible for his death?” the prosecutor queried.

“No I would never do that to the man I loved. It was the worst day of my life,” Mrs Berman responded.

Berman was taken into custody and is due to be sentenced on July 3.

Sazeeda Ismail, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, stated: “Daryl Berman stabbed her husband of 27 years in the chest and intentionally caused his death. She lied to paramedics, police and family members when she claimed Mr Berman had accidentally sustained his fatal injuries.

“The jury saw through her lies and convicted her of murder, due to the strength of the prosecution’s case. My thoughts are with David Berman’s loved ones at this very difficult time.”