- Jo Samak, 49, was found stabbed to death hours after a school picnic. Her husband Mohamed claimed she stabbed herself, but evidence contradicted his story.
- Police uncovered hidden, blood-stained clothes, financial motives, and testimony from Jo’s young son, who recalled hearing his mother cry out as his father stood in the room.
- In October 2025, Mohamed Samak was convicted of murdering Jo and sentenced to life in prison, after prosecutors argued he killed her amid marital tensions and looming financial gain.
As Jo and Mohamed Samak happily chatted to other parents at their son’s school picnic on June 28, 2024, they seemed every bit the happy family.
Together for 13 years, the pair had met in 2011 at the Hilton Hotel in Egypt, where Mohamed, a former international hockey player, worked.
Falling head over heels, the holiday romance turned into a long-distance relationship until finally, in 2014, they got married and Mohamed moved to England to be with Jo.
Jo was delighted when she gave birth to a son in her 40s.
While Mohamed was head coach for an under-18 boys hockey team, Jo was the main family breadwinner. She’d recently set up a new interior design company with former colleagues.
But things weren’t as perfect as they seemed for the Samaks.
Mohamed took issue with Jo still wanting to spend time with her friends after getting married, and complained to Jo’s mother, Penny, about his wife having some drinks socially after work on a Friday or on the weekends. It’d wedged such a huge divide between them that Jo and Mohamed had taken to sleeping in separate rooms.
Still, Jo had so much to look forward to. Her 50th birthday was approaching, and she’d booked tickets to Paris with one of her friends.
She also had some exciting work events coming up, including setting up a show home just three days after the school picnic.
In preparation, Jo had hung out a red dress to wear and set her alarm for the morning.
But just a few hours later, tragedy struck when Jo, 49, was found bleeding to death in her bed.
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Calling emergency services, Mohamed said, ‘My wife’s got a knife in her tummy’.
He claimed he’d found Jo slumped over on his way to the toilet.
Paramedics raced to the scene, but devastatingly, Jo was unable to be resuscitated.
A distraught Mohamed explained he’d watched his wife take ‘her final two breaths’ before calling emergency services.
Mohamed then told police that he’d seen his wife stabbing herself in the stomach while shouting, ‘Let me do it!’
Police wondered why Jo, a devoted mother with so much to live for, would take her own life and in such a brutal way.
Mohamed explained Jo had been wrestling with her mental health prior to her death, that she was ‘menopausal’ and a heavy drinker.
Still, it seemed so out of character for the forward-planning Jo.
‘My wife’s got a knife in her tummy’
And despite Mohamed’s claims of performing CPR, paramedics noticed that Mohamed had no blood on his hands, which would have been impossible given the six knife wounds on her chest and stomach, including one in the breastbone which fatally pierced her heart.
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Worryingly, Mohamed had also waited an hour between finding his wife and calling for help.
Unconvinced by his story, police charged Mohamed with Jo’s murder just days after her death.
Mohamed Samak appeared at Worcester Crown court in August and pleaded not guilty to murder. But with the jury unable to reach a verdict the trial fell apart in February 2025.
When the case was retried in September, the prosecution said Samak had stabbed his wife to death due to financial and marital issues.
Samak’s defence team insisted his wife had taken her own life.
Medical experts told the jury considerable force was needed to penetrate Jo’s breastbone, making it highly unlikely she could have inflicted the injury upon herself.
Jo’s friends gave evidence explaining just 48 hours before she died she said she didn’t love her husband, but wouldn’t divorce him worrying he would not survive living in the UK without her.
Jo’s loved ones also strongly refuted Samak’s allegations that Jo had alcohol and mental health issues.
More damning, it was revealed that Samak’s phone contained messages proving he’d met an old flame shortly before Jo’s death.
And it was revealed Samak stood to receive more than $360,000 from a life insurance payout on Jo’s death.
Halfway through the trial, police conducted a new search of the Samak home and found bags of clothing that had been hidden in the attic.
Police retrieved a blood-stained sock and black hockey T-shirt belonging to Samak. Forensic testing showed the blood was Jo’s.
Samak’s defence team insisted his wife had taken her own life
Still trying to cover his gruesome tracks, Samak claimed he hid his clothes fearing he would be blamed for the murder.
It was ultimately Jo’s son that helped catch his mother’s killer. Police officers helped him build a Lego version of Jo’s bedroom, where the little boy had been sleeping that night.
He said he’d been woken up by his mummy shouting, ‘Put me down!’
‘Daddy was in the bedroom,’ he recounted, adding that his dad had told him that Jo had hit her head and ‘had died’.
Sadly Jo’s mother Penny told the court that, on telling her grandson his mother had died he said, ‘I’m too young not to have a mummy.’
This time the jury was in no doubt and found 43-year-old Mohamed Samak guilty of murder this October.
Sentencing Samak to life in prison with a minimum of 19 years and eight months to be served, Judge Burbidge KC described the crime as ‘wicked’.
‘When Jo drew away from you, falling out of love with you, that was something you couldn’t emotionally cope with,’ the judge said, adding that Samak also struggled with the fact his wife was the breadwinner.
Jo’s heartbroken mum told the court she’d ‘never get over’ the tragic loss of her daughter.
Paying tribute to his sister outside the court Mark Vale said, ‘We will miss her and love her forever.
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