Frances McMenamin KC secures clean sweep in Bloody Scotland trial

Ms McMenamin appeared as the defence advocate in You the Jury, an interactive courtroom production at Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival. Held at Stirling Sheriff Court on Friday 18 and Saturday 19 September, the event brought together practising advocates and forensic experts, with audience members deciding the verdict.

Written by Douglas Skelton, the production revisited the notorious 1927 trial of John Donald Merrett, who was accused of shooting his mother and forging cheques in her name. The case captivated Scotland because it was highly ambiguous whether his mother was murdered or if she had shot herself amid family money issues.

Fifteen audience members were selected by ballot at each performance to hear the arguments and serve as the jury. Despite the prosecution’s best efforts, Ms McMenamin secured a majority ‘not guilty’ verdict in all three performances.

In real life, the jury returned the now-abolished ‘not proven’ verdict for the murder charge. Merrett served a short sentence, changed his name to Ronald Chesney, and embarked on an eccentric, flamboyant career as a thief, conman, and black-market smuggler.

In February 1954, Merritt travelled to London and slipped into the home of his then estranged wife, Isobel Veronica Chesney, got her drunk and drowned her in the bathtub. On his way out, he was cornered by his mother-in-law, whom he brutally strangled to death to silence her. He then fled to mainland Europe. He went to a forest near Cologne, Germany, and committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the head. Because he died before he could stand trial for the double murder, a coroner’s inquest officially served as his trial, finally confirming his guilt to the world.