P is for Polkinghorne: An eye surgeon’s secret meth addiction

Tuesday, 24 September 2024

Eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne was losing weight, falling asleep in board meetings, irritable towards staff and a meth pipe was found in a consultation room at the private practice where he worked.

But it wasn’t until the suspicious death of his wife that a police search of his Remuera mansion revealed the extent of a methamphetamine addiction he’d kept hidden from many.

In total, police found 37.7g of meth and another glass pipe in his multi-million-dollar home as they investigated how Pauline Hanna had died.

The class A drug was in his bedside drawer, hidden under a towel in the bathroom and among his toiletries and medication. Some of the containers of meth tested positive for his DNA.

There was also a pipe found under the bed in the master bedroom, where Polkinghorne had spent the night.

Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock said in her closing address to the jurors that the drugs had a street value of over $13,000.

Polkinghorne initially accused police of planting the drugs.

In a pre-trial judgement that can only now be reported, Justice Simon Moore referenced the accusation.

He said Detective Senior Sergeant Dunhill was brought in to undertake an independent review of Polkinghorne’s claim.

Police refused to release the report before verdicts, on the grounds it could “prejudice the maintenance of the law”, before the jurors had returned their verdicts.

And when the verdict on the murder charge came in, Polkinghorne was found not guilty.

But while he denied the murder charge, Polkinghorne admitted possessing meth and a pipe on the morning his High Court trial began.

Evidence at the trial showed those closest to Polkinghorne saw signs consistent with Polkinghorne being in the throes of an addiction, although they were not able to attribute it to meth use at the time.

As early as 2018 colleagues began noticing changes in Polkinghorne’s character.

One of those was Auckland Eye chief executive Deborah Boyd who gave evidence she noticed Polkinghorne becoming erratic and losing weight. She said the doctor told her he was on a diet.

Boyd said Polkinghorne fell asleep during evening board meetings and a shareholders meeting in 2020 when his exit package was on the table for discussion.

At a board meeting in early 2021 Boyd said Polkinghorne was aggressive and much of what he said didn’t make sense.

She also reported receiving emails from Polkinghorne in the early hours of the morning and that the behaviour was concerning enough for her to talk to Auckland Eye ophthalmologist Dean Corbett. At the time the pair put Polkinghorne’s behaviour down to early onset dementia.

Dr Corbett also gave evidence, confirming he had known Polkinghorne for more than 30 years and the pair were friends.

He said Polkinghorne was stressed about negotiating his exit conditions from Auckland Eye.

Corbett said some staff refused to work with Polkinghorne in the operating theatre because of his behaviour and around January 2021 he talked to Hanna who told him she was struggling with Polkinghorne and his stress levels.

A forensic analysis of Polkinghorne’s bank account shows the doctor was haemorrhaging money. The Crown said it was used to fund his habit.

Between 2016 and 2021, Polkinghorne’s weekly average cash withdrawals increased from $582.69 to $1,750.00.

The Crown said the money was being spent on methamphetamine and it was likely causing a strain on Polkinghorne’s marriage.

Sydney sex worker Madison Ashton told police Polkinghorne was using “a lot of the stuff” from July 2020 onwards. She also noticed Polkinghorne had shredded weight, one of the side effects of the drug, others being aggression, impulsiveness and being prone to risky decision-making.

In October 2020, a pipe and lighter were found by a staff member in a room next to Polkinghorne’s consultation room at Auckland Eye - the Remuera eye surgery where he practised.

CCTV footage of the weekend before the drugs were found showed Polkinghorne was one of four staff members who had been at the private eye surgery over the weekend.

Auckland Eye’s independent director and board chair Mark Conelly said an investigation into who the meth pipe belonged to was inconclusive.

Auckland Eye called in lawyers Wynn Williams to carry out the investigation which could not establish Polkinghorne had anything to do with the pipe.

Subsequent drug testing after Hanna’s death was carried out and found traces of the drug in the air conditioner that serviced the consultation room.

Evidence at trial showed the matter was not raised with Polkinghorne.

Nor is there any evidence it was referred to the Medical Council, the regulatory body for medical practitioners.

Stuff asked the Council if any referrals or self-referrals were made about Dr Polkinghorne’s methamphetamine use and what the outcome was.

The Council declined to comment “due to legal and privacy considerations”.

Stuff asked the Council how the public could have any faith that the process is working. The Council did not answer the question, except to say that Polkinghorne no longer held a practising certificate.

In her closing address, Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock said Polkinghorne’s drug-use was likely another topic causing consternation in his marriage.

Two months after the pipe was found at his work, the Crown said Hanna discovered methamphetamine at home.

In December 2020 she was on the internet searching “P pipe”, “what does p look like”, and “what sensation does p give you??”.

She also took photos of glass pipes on her phone.

Four months later she was dead.

Police would find the drug secreted around the house. There was also urine in the unflushed toilet water that tested positive for meth.

Toxicology testing of Hanna’s urine and her hair found no traces of the illicit drug.

Polkinghorne, who graduated from the University of Otago in 1979 and specialised in ophthalmology in 1990, was a member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

His registration details on the Medical Council’s website show he held a practising certificate up until May 2022 - over a year after Hanna’s death.

He did not renew it after being charged with murder and possession of methamphetamine.

On April 14, 2021 - the day before Hanna’s funeral - Polkinghorne had lunch with his close friend, colleague and Auckland Eye clinical director Susan Ormonde and her husband.

She told the Court that Polkinghorne had said he was worried about “some other things that will come out”.

Ormonde said Polkinghorne initially spoke about his and Hanna’s sex life.

“When we asked what the other thing he was worried about was, he said: ‘drugs’.”

When Ormonde asked what he meant by that, Polkinghorne used the word “meth” and she was pretty sure he also mentioned “cocaine”.

“He wasn’t specific as to whether it was he or Pauline but he talked about it as if it was both of them, you know, like ‘we use methamphetamine’,” she told Crown prosecutor Pip McNabb.

Ormonde said Polkinghorne asked her and her husband if they used meth. When they said no, he replied: “Well, you should”.

She said she asked Polkinghorne if they had been using the drug on the night of Hanna’s death but Polkinghorne said: “No, we haven’t used meth for six weeks”.

Ormonde said she was conflicted by the disclosure - on the one hand, this was a friend and colleague, speaking confidentially but on the other, she was the clinical director and had obligations to patients and the practice.

McNabb asked Ormonde if she reported the conversation. The doctor replied: “Absolutely”.

She told the company lawyer and the medical indemnity insurer, the Medical Protection Society.

Ormonde said the advice from the Medical Protection Society was that Polkinghorne should self-refer to the regulator, the Medical Council.

“The Medical Council would handle the situation more lightly when a doctor self-reports than when they don’t,” Ormonde said.

Some time later Ormonde said she asked Polkinghorne if he had self-reported and he said that he had.

“Although I did find out later when I spoke to the Medical Council that he had self-reported but he hadn’t self-reported the meth.”

Exactly what he did “self-report” was not clarified in her evidence.

Ormonde said she only spoke to others of Polkinghorne’s meth admission when it was reported in the media that the drug had been found by police at his Remuera home.

Under cross-examination from Polkinghorne’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC, Ormonde confirmed Polkinghorne had not told her to keep his admission a secret.

She confirmed Polkinghorne went on bereavement leave after Hanna’s death and that he never returned to work.