Hannah Cain: Husband murdered Royal Family GP by hitting her with axe and strangling her, court told

A GP to the royal family died after being allegedly struck on the head with an axe by her husband before he strangled her, a UK court has been told.

Mark Cain, the husband of Hannah Cain, has faced King’s Lynn Crown Court accused of murdering her in the early hours of October 4, as they hosted friends of their three children for a sleepover in their $1.6 million Dersingham House on the edge of the royals’ Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Mr Cain, 45, faced the murder charge via videolink from prison as prosecutors outlined the new details of the case against him. Both Metro and the Daily Mail reported that the court heard an axe was used to bludgeon Ms Cain, known to her patients, who included Queen Camilla and senior royal family members, as Doctor Hannah Terry.

The Daily Mail reported that prosecutor Steven Ball said police visited the couple’s house in the early hours of October 4 to investigate a suspected break-in reported by Mr Cain via phone.

“Mr Cain was seen to have superficial wounds,” Mr Ball told the court.

“He informed police that he’d been in a confrontation with an intruder downstairs while his wife was upstairs asleep.

“His three children were upstairs, aged eight, 11 and 13, with two children of another family, who had stayed for a sleepover.

“Mrs Cain was found upstairs in a bedroom unconscious and unresponsive.”

The prosecutor said initial postmortem findings revealed blunt force injuries to Ms Cain’s head and injuries to the neck consistent with compression on it.

Mr Cain, an energy consultant, subsequently gave police further information, the court was told. That information included how Ms Cain, 45, was allegedly killed, the Mail reported.

Mr Cain did not enter a plea or apply for bail. He was remanded in custody as the case was adjourned until December 3 pending medical assessments.

Mr Cain’s court appearance followed a statement from his wife’s family, which was distributed by police.

“We are devastated by the loss of our beautiful Hannah,” Ms Cain’s family said.

“We are incredibly proud of the woman she was and of the great care she took of all her patients who knew her as Dr Terry.

“We would ask people to respect our privacy at this difficult time.”

The Sun reported that the mother-of-three was a GP to the Royal Family, citing unnamed sources who said both King Charles and Queen Camilla had been informed of Ms Cain’s death.

Metro reported that she worked at Grimston Medical Centre, a practice which has served senior royals staying at Sandringham for some time. Both outlets said that her duties included treating Camilla when the Queen was staying at Sandringham.

A clinical administrator for the practice told both outlets that “everybody’s completely shocked” at her death.

“I had the pleasure of working with her for a few years,” said Julie-Ann Rayner.

“She was an amazing doctor and an amazing person, really wonderful, really warm-hearted, she really cared about her family.

“It’s incredibly sad what’s happened, everybody’s completely shocked.

“I can’t stop thinking about her boys and what they must be going through.”

Neighbours also expressed their shock to local newspaper Fakenham Times.

“She was just a lovely human being with three gorgeous young children,” one said.

“Something’s obviously gone very badly wrong. I’m just out of words, we all are.”

Metro reported that residents of the village of Dersingham claimed that Ms Cain had friends of her boys staying overnight with them when police responded to emergency calls in the early hours of October 4.

Norfolk Police confirmed earlier that Ms Cain’s husband had been charged with her murder on Tuesday night.

“A Home Office post-mortem examination took place (Monday 5 October) - the outcome of which is that the cause of death is pending further investigation,” Norfolk Police said in a statement.

“This afternoon 45-year-old Mark Cain, of Fern Hill, Dersingham was charged with Hannah’s murder.

“He has been remanded in custody to appear before Norwich Magistrates’ Court.

“Specialist officers are continuing to support Hannah’s family, who have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”