Donald Merrett

John Donald Merrett (17 August 1908 – 16 February 1954) was a British murderer and convicted fraudster also known under the name of Ronald John Chesney in later life. He left a wide trail of damage but escaped with minimal punishment. Though he was immensely rich his crimes were mainly driven by greed. In his second guise he was also known as the Amazing Mr Chesney. A highly flamboyant character, he was known by his later friends and lovers as "Ches".

Early life

Merrett was born in 1908 in Levin in the North Island of New Zealand. His parents were John Alfred Merrett, a consulting engineer, and his wife Bertha née Milner. Donald was an only child. The family moved to St Petersburg in Russia where the father worked installing an electricity supply in the city, but the cold climate did not suit Bertha. Linked to a growing estrangement with Donald's father Bertha and Donald moved to Switzerland around 1913 and Merrett never saw his father again.

From 1920 to 1923 Merrett lived with his mother in Oamaru, New Zealand and attended Waitaki Boys' High School, as recalled by a former master at the school who tutored him.

In 1924 Bertha returned to England and rented a cottage near Reading. Donald was then educated privately at Malvern College as a boarder. He had a reputation as being clever but badly behaved. He was expelled for being found in bed with a girl.

In 1925 they moved to rental accommodation in Edinburgh. Merrett began studying for a BA degree at Edinburgh University. There is no evidence that he ever attended any lectures. He and his wife lived together in a large Victorian townhouse purchased by Bertha at 31 Buckingham Terrace in the fashionable and expensive Learmonth district. The aim was that Merrett would eventually join the Diplomatic Service.

At 9.30am on 17 March 1926 an argument was precipitated by a second letter from the bank. Bertha was shot in the head. She was in the main first floor living room, where she had a writing bureau. Donald told their maid that his mother had shot herself due to her worries over debts. The police were called and constables Middlemass and Izatt attended along with an ambulance. Bertha was not dead, however but, as a suspected suicide, was placed in "the custody ward". This was a controlled area in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place. Merrett went out dancing with Betty that night. Bertha regained consciousness but was never interviewed by the police as the matter was treated as an attempted suicide. She told nurses that she remembered arguing with Donald and an explosion. A visitor implied to her that Donald had shot her and she said "Was it Donald? That naughty boy, did he do this?" She died on 1 April 1926 two weeks after being shot.

After Bertha's death Donald persuaded other relatives that he wanted to go to London. Only when the Clydesdale Bank informed police that Merrett was still receiving cheques from Bertha after her death did the police investigate.

The inactivity on the part of the police was said to stem from not believing that a 17 year old could commit such a crime and their preference for the suicide theory. The evidence of the maid (Rita Sutherland) was inconsistent and also somewhat supported the suicide theory.

Police conduct of the investigation was heavily criticised by Lord Alness. The gun had not been fingerprinted, the bank letters had been destroyed and no copies had been requested. Although there was a wealth of circumstantial evidence, the jury of 15 voted in a ratio of 5 as guilty and 10 as not proven (a specific judgement in Scottish law). Donald was found not guilty of the murder charge but guilty of fraud in relation to the cheques. He served 12 months at Saughtonhall Prison in west Edinburgh.

Criminal Career

Merrett was released in 1928 and moved to Bexhill-on-Sea to live with a friend of his mother, Mary Bonar, whom he called Aunt Mary although she was not a blood relative. There he fell in love with Bonar's daughter, Isobel Veronica ("Vera") Bonnar. They eloped in March 1928 and were married in Glasgow where marriage was easier than in England. They went to live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. They were charged with obtaining goods to the value of £200 using fraudulent cheques in the name of McCormack. Merrett gave his name as Chesney and served 9 months in prison for this crime.

On his 21st birthday he inherited £50,000 from his grandfather, the money having been held in trust until that time. He gave Vera £8400 from this sum. He adopted the new name "Ronald Chesney" to distance himself from his criminal past. The couple moved to the Portsmouth area and bought a large country house. They adopted two children: a 2 year old and 5 year old.

Meanwhile, Vera's mother married Thomas Chalmers Menzies, a Scot who styled himself "Baron Menzies" but had no realistic claim to any such title. This relationship did not last long but Mary loved to call herself "Lady Menzies" and continued to do so.

He was found dead on 16 February 1954 in a wood near Cologne with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head from a Colt 45. He left a letter to Sonia Winnikes, then aged 28. Only Gerda attended his funeral in Germany on 23 February 1954. She paid for the burial but Sonia received all his worldly goods. He is buried in an area reserved for suicides in the churchyard at Düren.

The German police removed his forearms and sent them to London for confirmation that it was Merrett. They are preserved in the liquid in which they were delivered in the Crime Museum (formerly known as the Black Museum) at Scotland Yard.

Aftermath

Vera and her mother were buried together on 5 March 1954 in Hastings Borough Cemetery.

His adopted daughter Ann Trull survived all the events.

John Merrett senior had not died in the Russian Revolution as Bertha claimed but had returned to England. He followed the trial and double murder scandal with dismay. He died in 1966.

The Dunedin Palais de Dance was converted to garage use and is owned by Hertz Car Rental.