- Teresa Hanson, 54, murdered her husband while making a post-Christmas meal
- The grandmother later used the same bloodied knife to caramelise onions
A grandmother murdered her husband of 34 years by plunging a kitchen knife into his heart while preparing a post-Christmas dinner.
Hairdresser Teresa Hanson, 54, was making a Mediterranean tart in the kitchen of their marital home when she fatally wounded Paul Hanson, 54, in West Cowick, East Yorkshire, last December.
Hanson deliberately thrust the knife into his chest before continuing to caramelise onions with the same bloodied blade, jurors concluded.
She lashed out after Mr Hanson shouted at her: ‘I didn’t f***king want tea. Chuck it in the f***ing bin.’
Hanson, who had denied murder, claimed she went to push her husband away after he became angry and forgot she was holding a knife.
![Teresa Hanson, 54, (right) fatally wounded her husband Paul Hanson, 54, (left) while preparing a post-Christmas dinner](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/21/16/75691485-12545659-image-a-37_1695310699733.jpg)
Teresa Hanson, 54, (right) fatally wounded her husband Paul Hanson, 54, (left) while preparing a post-Christmas dinner
![Teresa Hanson, 54, (left) later used the same knife she killed her husband with to caramelise onions](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/21/16/75691477-12545659-image-a-38_1695310754964.jpg)
Teresa Hanson, 54, (left) later used the same knife she killed her husband with to caramelise onions
She claimed she continued chopping onions and only realised her husband had been fatally stabbed when she heard their dog bark.
Hanson shrieked as she was found guilty at Hull Crown Court following a retrial. She will be sentenced on October 3 and was remanded into custody.
Judge John Thackray, QC, told her: ‘You have been convicted of murder and as you know there is only one sentence which is life imprisonment.’
Hanson murdered her husband on the evening of December 28 last year after he shouted at her when challenged for becoming increasingly drunk.
In a 999 call made shortly after 7pm, Hanson told an emergency operator that she had stabbed Mr Hanson ‘just out of anger’.
She said: ‘We had an argument. I was cutting, cooking tea and he told me to ‘f*** off’ and ‘I’m a b***h’ so I just like, I don’t know what I did.’
Giving evidence, Hanson said her husband called her a ‘b***h’ and walked off when she suggested he had consumed too much Rioja.
Mother-of-two Hanson, who admitted being ‘angry’ and ‘upset’, added: ‘I didn’t know I had [stabbed him].’
‘I attempted to push him away from me when he was walking in because I didn’t want him to shout at me.
‘He was coming towards me and I just wanted him to go away.
‘I just turned and pushed him. I don’t even know how it happened.’
Mr Hanson, a construction manager, described in court as a ‘loving father’ who ‘adored his grandchildren’, was pronounced dead upon arrival at Hull Royal Infirmary hospital.
After her arrest, Hanson, a mobile hairdresser, claimed her husband had accidentally walked on to the outstretched knife.
![Teresa Hanson, 54, (right) lashed out after Paul Hanson (left) shouted at her: 'I didn't f***king want tea. Chuck it in the f***ing bin.'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/21/16/75691587-12545659-image-a-49_1695310855747.jpg)
Teresa Hanson, 54, (right) lashed out after Paul Hanson (left) shouted at her: ‘I didn’t f***king want tea. Chuck it in the f***ing bin.’
In a later account, she said that she had attempted to push him away with her hands, not realising the blade had penetrated his cotton t-shirt and chest.
She said she was unaware that Mr Hanson collapsed in a pool of blood and carried on cooking.
Dismissing Hanson’s account as a ‘lie’, Alistair MacDonald, KC, prosecuting had earlier told jurors: ‘Injuries like that simply don’t happen’.
He added: ‘Probably of what he said to her she lost her temper with him and stabbed him in the chest in anger as a result.’
Mr MacDonald asked the jury: ‘Does she really expect you to believe that she failed completely to notice that her husband, who must have been just a few paces away, was bent double moving away from her?
‘She didn’t notice any of that. She just went on calmly cooking onions with the same knife.
‘Is it credible that in his death agony… as he moved out of that kitchen that she said absolutely nothing? He didn’t sigh, groan or gasp; didn’t say “Teresa what have you done to me?”
‘He just walked out of the kitchen, she said, she didn’t realise anything was wrong.’
The jury was told the height difference between the couple also raised questions with Hanson’s account.
Giving evidence, Hanson denied wanting to injure her husband, claiming that she did not consciously realise she was holding the blade.
She said: ‘I was cooking onions but I wasn’t conscious of it being in my hand at that point, but it was.
‘I didn’t even know I had stabbed him until I had seen him. I didn’t know what had happened.
‘It was an accident. I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock.’
Mr Hanson was pronounced dead at 8.25pm on December 28. The court was told he had no defensive injuries.
![Construction worker Paul Hanson (pictured) was described in court as a 'loving father' who 'adored his grandchildren'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/21/16/75691591-12545659-image-a-50_1695310861026.jpg)
Construction worker Paul Hanson (pictured) was described in court as a ‘loving father’ who ‘adored his grandchildren’
In a prepared statement after her arrest, Hanson claimed she had turned towards him with the knife ‘but not in a threatening way’.
She said: ‘My husband over the years has been verbally and mentally been abusive to me. This has been worse since he suffered a brain injury approximately ten years ago. He is worse when he drinks.
‘Last night I was in the kitchen preparing a meal. He had been drinking wine and he came into the kitchen in a bad mood.
‘This normally happens when I mention about his drinking. I had a kitchen knife in my hand, preparing tea. He came alongside me and was shouting. I turned towards him with the knife still in my hand but not in a threatening way.
‘As I turned with the knife in my hand, he walked towards me and then I turned around. I had no idea that when he walked towards me, that he came straight at me and the knife went into him.
‘The first I knew something was wrong was when I heard the dog barking.
‘I then turned around and saw a blood trail on the floor.’
Jurors were earlier shown pictures of the 2cm-wide blade, pictured near to a black pan where onions were being cooked, with a roll of filo pastry and a glass of red wine nearby.
Hanson told the court that her husband had consumed three or four glasses of red wine and the couple had been watching films and dancing earlier in the day.
Mr Hanson was the victim of a mass car crash on the M42 motorway near Birmingham in 1997 and was left in intensive care.
He also suffered a brain injury around a decade ago after being punched on a night out and hitting his head on the concrete.
Hanson said her husband turned to drink ‘as a way of coping’ and ‘if i mentioned [his] drinking he would click, but that was very rare’.
Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Burnett, who lead the investigation, said: ‘In this case, a verbal argument spiralled out of control and as a result of Teresa’s actions that day, her husband lost his life.
‘This has been an incredibly difficult investigation that has left a family utterly devastated.
‘They have been through a harrowing ordeal and my thoughts remain with them today. I would please ask that their privacy be respected during this traumatic time.
‘We will not accept violence in any guise and we will always do everything we can to seek justice for those who come to harm at the hands of another, and to ensure those who commit the crime are held to account for their actions.’
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