CHARGE OF MURDER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 6, 4 December 1926, Page 9

CHARGE OF MURDER.

YOUTH ARRESTED BY POLICE. LONDON, Dec. 3. The explanation of Mrs Merrett’s death hitherto accepted was that she accidentally shot herself while handling her son’s pistol, which was lying in a drawer of the desk at which she was writing a letter, and John,, who was sitting beside the fire, heard the shot and saw his mother fall to the floor. She lingered for a fortnight and died without regaining consciousness. John had lately been staying at the vicarage at Hughenden, being coached in expectation of £oing to Oxford. When he was driven off in the police car he was seen to be crying bitterly.— A. and N.Z. cable. ERRONEOUS STATEMENT. MRS MERRETT’S ABODE. HAVELOCK NORTH AND OAMARU • Per Press Association. HASTINGS, Dec. 4. The statement in the cable that Mrs Merrett #nd her son came from a New Zealand " station is erroneous. Some six years ago Mrs Merrett came to New Zealand from Russia, where her husband was employed. SLo separated from him and took up her residence in Havelock North. Later she went to Jive at Oamaru, sending her son to the Waitalci Boys’ High School. They later went to England and, as stated in the cable, he entered Edinburgh University to complete his education for the diplomatic service. While resident in Hawke’s Bay Mrs Merrett made many friends, with whom she enjoyed great popularity. It is understood that she was the inventor and patentee of the fireless cooker. After a lapse of eight months, a New Zealander, John Donald Merrett, aged 19, has been arrested on a charge of murdering his mother, Mrs Bertha Merrett, aged 56. Both went abroad from a New Zealand station to complete the son’s education for the diplomatic Service. The son entered Edinburgh University, and the mother took a three months’ lease of a flat in a fashionable quarter of Edinburgh. A week afterwards it was entered and Mrs Merrett was found shot.