Wife, 72, fatally stabbed 'kind-hearted' husband, 84, then lied that he must have fallen on paring knife blade when he dropped her lunch tray

By JAMES TOZER, NORTHERN CORRESPONDENT Published: 15:23, 23 June 2026 | Updated: 15:26, 23 June 2026 A woman was today convicted of murdering her ‘kind-hearted’ retired businessman husband of almost 30 years with a paring knife. Daryl Berman, now 72, the third wife of David Berman, lied that the 84-year-old must have ‘stumbled’ while carrying her lunch tray, with the blade penetrating his chest as he fell. But today a jury found her guilty of murder after prosecutors alleged she had deliberately stabbed him in the chest 'for a reason known only to her'. As paramedics tended to the dying great grandfather, Mrs Berman asked a police officer called to their £500,000 home: ‘You don't think I've murdered him, do you?’ In the days after his death, relatives were struck by how ‘matter-of-fact and emotionless’ she seemed, two trials heard. She even seemed ‘untroubled’ about going into the kitchen where he had bled to death in their home in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, they said. The words ‘bye, bye’ had also been written on a calendar that night – a reference, she would later claim, to the anniversary of her parents’ deaths. But Mr Berman’s death in March 2025 was initially treated as an accident by police. David Berman, pictured at a family celebration, suffered a fatal chest wound near to his armpit Daryl Berman was today convicted of murdering her husband David after 27 years of marriage It was only after a doctor was 'troubled' by his injuries, before a pathologist concluded they had 'typical features of a homicide', that a murder investigation was launched. Giving evidence, Mrs Berman, the daughter of a wealthy textile merchant, said she heard him ‘stumble’ and rushed in to find him face down on the floor with ‘globules’ of blood spreading around him. Her defence was that her husband – who had only retired six months earlier from his job as a self-employed joiner – had been carrying her lunch tray back to the kitchen when he fell. He must have fallen on the sharp 12cm paring knife which she had put with her meal to cut her salad so it didn’t ‘squish all over the place’, she claimed. A jury last year was unable to reach a verdict, but after a retrial today Mrs Berman was convicted of his murder. Mr Berman, whose father was killed in action in Egypt during the Second World War, had been married twice before. He has a daughter and a son by his first marriage. He wed third wife Daryl Berman – also previously married – in 1997 after meeting on a blind date, with the marriage described as seemingly ‘loving and mutually supportive'. David Berman, 84, (pictured) had been married three times and was a grandfather and great-grandfather She had worked in a fine arts shop, then as a dental nurse before working in the fashion industry in a wholesale showroom, her trial heard. Mr Berman retired aged 84 in September 2024, telling the Jewish Telegraph the decision was based on his health ‘and the fact that work was not coming in as it used to’. He said joinery work ran in the family but was no longer seen as a job for a Jewish boy ‘as it is too manual’. Neighbours in Butterstile Lane, a tree-lined street of 1930s detached and semi-detached houses, described him as ‘kind-hearted’, saying they would regularly see him going to buy a newspaper. 'He was a gentleman, he was really lovely,’ said Debora Strong, who has lived in the area for over 40 years. By contrast his wife would ‘keep her distance’, one resident told the Daily Mail, and would ‘hide behind the front door while she was talking - you didn't see her’. They spoke of their ‘shock’ at seeing scenes of crime officers sealing off the couple’s detached home days after his sudden death. Mr Berman was in good everyday health, the trial was told, although he had been diagnosed with dementia, used a walking stick and had been suffering with 'shortness of breath'. Speaking to a neighbour about his dementia, Mrs Berman’s first trial was told she said: ‘This is my life now.’ He spent the morning of March 13, 2025 at a play centre with his daughter and great granddaughter. David Berman ran his own joinery business from when he was a teenager until he turned 84 But shortly before 2pm, Mrs Berman called 999 and was given instructions on how to carry out CPR on her husband. Mrs Berman, who is 5ft 2in tall, said she struggled to turn her 5ft 10in husband onto his back due to his size. Asked by the operator what had happened, she said: ‘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.’ The first paramedic to arrive found Mr Berman lying on his back on the kitchen floor. When a police officer arrived, Mrs Berman asked him: ‘You don't think I've murdered him, do you?’ The officer also spoke with Mr Berman's son, who said his father was 'clumsy' and was 'always falling'. His death was not initially treated as suspicious. But concerns were raised five days later following a post-mortem examination which revealed a single stab wound to his chest and an injury to his finger which was said to be ‘defensive’. Police investigators at the Bermans' £500,000 detached home in Prestwich, Manchester After being arrested on suspicion of murder, Mrs Berman told detectives they both had lunch in the lounge before her husband offered to take her tray into the kitchen. ‘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”.’ Mr Berman had suffered a single horizontal stab wound to the right side of the chest up to 12cm deep. Giving evidence on behalf of the prosecution at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, forensic pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said the force required to cause the injury would have been 'severe'. Saying an ‘accidental fatal injury is rare’ in such cases, he said the blade would have needed to have been ‘fixed’ in place to have penetrated his chest. He said the wound was ‘likely to be homicidal due to the injury to the chest’ as well as the ‘defensive’ injury to his right middle finger.’ ‘Plainly, putting the two injuries together, I thought it was inconceivable that they were anything other than a homicide,’ he added. Under cross-examination, Dr Lumb accepted it was 'not impossible' that either injury taken separately could have been sustained by accident. Giving evidence for the defence, forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd - who told jurors he had worked on the investigation into the death of Princess Diana and the murder of Stephen Lawrence - said he 'could not exclude accident or homicide'. The finger injury was in the ‘wrong place’ to be ‘defensive’, he added. Dr Shepherd said it could be possible that Mr Berman had fallen to the floor whilst carrying the tray and the knife, picked up the knife in his right hand and then fallen as he tried to get up. Had Mrs Berman stabbed her husband it would be likely that this would be inflicted with 'less force' due to their height difference, he added. However under cross-examination he described the circumstances as ‘unusual and difficult’. There was no history of domestic violence in the couple’s marriage. But opening the case, prosecutor Michael Brady KC told jurors how after Mr Berman’s death, members of his family ‘noticed how matter-of-fact and emotionless’ his wife was. ‘That she was acting as though nothing had happened and even seemed untroubled about going into the kitchen,’ he added. Giving evidence in the retrial, Mrs Berman said on the day of his death, her husband had come home first. She had left homemade soup and bread next to the microwave in the kitchen for him, she said. When she returned from her shopping trip he was sitting in the 'sunroom' at the back of the house, watching television. She gave him a kiss and asked if he had eaten before going to the kitchen to prepare her own meal, she said. Mrs Berman said she then brought her own lunch - an open chicken salad sandwich - into the room on a tray, alongside a 'little knife' and a fork. She chose a sharp knife in order to 'cut through the cucumber and tomato so it wouldn't squish all over the place', she told jurors. They spoke about how he had ‘enjoyed watching the kids play’ while she finished her lunch, she said, before he picked up her tray, saying: 'I'll take it, darling.’ ‘He liked to do things for me as I liked to do things for him,’ she said. ‘He went to the kitchen, and I heard a stumble or a trip. ‘I immediately said: "David, what's wrong?"’ He answered 'I'm okay', she said, but she then heard ‘a sound like a slump or something and a groan’ and ‘went quickly into the kitchen’. Breaking down in tears, she described how she ‘dashed’ to him crying out ‘David, David!’ Around him were ‘globules of liquid’ which she realised was blood, she said, at which she called for an ambulance before contacting family members to say there had been ‘an accident’. Asked by her barrister Michael Hayton KC if she had ‘murdered your husband of 27 years’, Mrs Berman replied: ‘Why would I do that to the man I love? No.’ ‘How do you explain how he came to die?’ he asked. ‘I have absolutely no idea, I wasn't in the room,’ she answered, saying later that his death was ‘the worst day of my life’. She described her husband as ‘very kind, very stubborn, and a lovely guy’. ‘Nobody had a bad word to say about him,’ she added. Mrs Berman will be sentenced in July.  Today Sazeeda Ismail, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: '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.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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