Polkinghorne trial: $150k spent on police investigation

Nearly $150,000 was spent as part of investigation costs into the death of Pauline Hanna.

Philip Polkinghorne was found not guilty of murdering of his wife Pauline Hanna, after a nine week trial ending in September.

He was sentenced to 150 hours of community work for drug possession earlier this month.

Polkinghorne's defence suggested he be fined roughly $650, Justice Graham Lang said. The maximum fine able to be set was $1000 for methamphetamine charges.

Data provided to RNZ through an Official Information Act request reveals some of the costs of the investigation into his wife's alleged murder.

Police spent $4932 on pathologists, $6000 on specialist fees and $120,000 on ESR related costs.

Police said they were unable to provide the total amount spent on the investigation, as these tasks were part of police's core function.

The clean up of the scene alone cost police $765.

More than $1000 was spent on computer consumables and internal travel, while $360 was spent on consultancy.

The total cost was $149,902.25.

RNZ can also reveal the hours dedicated by Crown Law to the Polkinghorne trial.

Lawyers spent 441 hours in the pre-trial stage of proceedings and 957 hours in the trial stage.

Combined with hours dedicated in administration, review, sentencing, and post trial stages, Crown lawyers spent 1463 hours working on the case as at the end of September this year.

Crown Law said solicitors operated in a bulk funding environment since 2013, and did not invoice Crown Law for individual cases as they are not remunerated on an hourly basis, meaning it was not possible to identify the total cost of a single case.

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