Bertha Merrett

Bertha Merrett was shot in the head with a pistol on 17 March 1926. She was taken to the Royal Infirmary where she later died on 1 April 1926.

Suicide was ruled out and her 18-year-old son was tried for her murder but a verdict of 'not proven' was returned.

Her death was at first thought to have been suicide but her son was later found to have been defrauding her by writing false cheques.

At the trial cheques were produced that were said to have had forged signatures and that the signatures had been traced. The son was charged with drawing £457, 13s, 6d with the forged cheques from the Clydesdale Bank (Ltd.) at 29 George Street, Edinburgh.

The son later changed his name and in 1954 was found by a inquest into the murders of his wife Veronica Bonnar and her mother, Lady Mary Menzies, to have unlawfully killed them on 11 February 1954, after which he committed suicide on 16 February 1954, by shooting himself in the head.