Madison Ashton’s fiance, Philip Polkinghorne, charged with murder of wife in New Zealand

High-class escort Madison Ashton’s fiance Philip Polkinghorne has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife.

Madison Ashton and her fiance Phillip Polinghorne. Picture: Supplied

Exclusive: Philip Polkinghorne, the fiance of high-class escort Madison Ashton, has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife in Auckland last year.

New Zealand police have released a statement saying a 69-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Pauline Polkinghorne, who was found dead in their luxury $5m Auckland mansion in April last year.

Mr Polkinghorne appeared in the Auckland District Court today and pleaded not guilty to murder.

He has been remanded on bail to appear in the High Court later this month.

A NZ police spokesperson said they could not comment further for privacy reasons as this matter is now before the court.

Madison Ashton and Phillip Polkinghorne.

Ms Ashton last year explosively revealed how she was helping police investigate the “unexplained” death of the wife of her prominent eye surgeon fiance.

The former mistress of late cardboard king billionaire Richard Pratt has also dropped a bombshell revealing she had an intimate relationship with Philip Polkinghorne and his wife Pauline, who was also known as Pauline Hanna.

Pauline and Philip Polkinghorne.

Ms Ashton divulged how they all met in 2011, when the couple booked a sex romp with Ms Ashton during a visit to Sydney.

The stunning revelations came after police armed with a search warrant raided a luxury $1725 a night suite in a remote NZ lodge where Mr Polkinghorne and Ms Ashton were staying in May last year.

The house where Pauline Hanna was found dead.

Ms Ashton told police her relationship with Mr Polkinghorne had been a romantic one, as boyfriend and girlfriend — and later engaged — for more than three years.

The sudden death of Ms Hanna, a senior health official involved in leading the Covid-19 response in NZ, has made headlines for months and sparked an exhaustive police investigation into how and why she died.

There is no suggestion Ms Ashton was involved in the death of Ms Hanna.

She has said she has helped police to get to the bottom of Pauline’s death.

“I am doing this to help her (Ms Hanna) and to solve the mystery around her death,” Ms Ashton said.

“It is one degree or no degree of separation really. But I would do this for anybody.”