THE MERRRETT CASE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 136, 6 December 1926, Page 10

THE MERRRETT CASE

SURPRISE AMONG FRIENDS

AN ADVENTUROUS YOUTH

(_y Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evening Post.") DUNEDIN, This Day. The arrest of the young New Zcalander, John Donald Mcrrott, in England, on a charge of murdering his mother came as a painful shock to several friends of both of them in Dunedin and Oamaru, as they resided in tho latter place for several years. They also spent some time in Dunedin and elsewhere in Otago, and naturally made a number of friends, some of whom wero in regular communication With them until a few months ago. Up till then there was no suggestion that anything was wrong, but lately letters sent to the mother at her English address havo been returned. As far as can bo ascertained, Mrs. Merrett and her son left England during the war and eventually settled down in Oamaru, where the boy attended tho Waitaki Boys' High School, being in a junior form. Previous to entering Waitaki, he had a serious fall from his cycle when on a fishing expedition, and was in hospital for a considerable time, suffering from injuries to his head and nose. For a time he was prevented from participating in field games at school, but later distinguished himself in all branches of sport, being an especially fine swimmer. Although his mother resided in • Oamaru, he was a boarder at Waitaki for a time. A number of his old classmates speakvery highly of him, though- they all point out that ho was of a particularly venturesome type, and on one occasion he created a mild sensation in the school by a rather foolhardly expedition in a motor-boat. The mother appeared to be very devoted to her son, and she made no secret of the fact that she was denying herself in order to provide him with an education that would fit him for the Diplomatic Service, which had evidently engaged his fancy from almost', his infancy. Mrs. Merrett astonished her friends in Dunedin by informing them that she always carried a revolver. Possibly she was still in the habit of doing so in England, as, according to the story from London yesterday, Merrett told tho police that he was startled by a revolver shot, and saw his mother, who was sitting writing at a bureau, fall on the.floor bleeding from a wound in the ear. Mrs. Merrett appeared to be in constant fear that her son would be kidnapped, and thero is reason to believe that there wero grounds for her feelings of apprehension, as she gave her friends here to understand,that thero had been trouble elsewhere:' Mother and son booked thoir passages for England through. Brodriek and Ch aimer about eighteen months ago. The son was born in Le\rin, but he and his mother left for Russia when he was very young, his father being employed there. After separating from her^husband, Mrs. Merrett came back to the Dominion, living for a timo in the North Island. She was understood to be fairly .comfortably off, though those who came in close contact with her considered that she was somewhat extravagant. , She was born in Manchester.