Peterborough man called 999 to confess to stabbing his dad to death, jury told

A Peterborough man phoned 999 to confess to killing his dad at their Orton home, a jury has heard.

In a 999 call played to a jury at Peterborough Crown Court, Adam Merritt, 33, told the emergency operator that he stabbed Robert Merritt, 60, multiple times at some point on the evening of June 28 and June 29 last year.

The case at court started on Monday, April 17, where the jury was told Adam Merritt is not fit to stand trial because of his mental health issues.

The court has also found he is also not fit enough to enter a plea.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said he had a “schizophrenic illness” – and Robert had been Adam Merritt’s main carer.

Adam Merritt is not in court for the case, called a Trial of Fact, and the 12 jurors have two verdicts open to them - that he ‘did the act’ or that he is ‘not guilty’.

Mr Jackson told the jury: “The prosecution case is that this defendant killed his father by stabbing him to death at the home the two of them shared at Lythemere, Orton Malborne.”

Mr Jackson told the court Adam Merritt phoned 999 at 12.53am on June 29, where he admitted the attack.

In the 999 call, Adam Merritt told the operator that his father had died.

He told the operator that blood was “all over” when asked where the blood was coming from.

The operator asked him: “Is that from a weapon used?”

Adam Merritt answered: “Yes, a knife.”

The operator asked: “What type of knife?”

Adam Merritt replied: “A kitchen knife.”

He was then asked if he was the one with the knife, and had stabbed his father.

He replied: “Yes.”

When asked how many times he had stabbed his father, he said he could not remember.

He told the operator the incident had happened about an hour before he called 999.

The operator then asked Adam Merritt to wait outside, with his hands above his head, when officers arrived to arrest him.

Opening the case, Mr Jackson told the jury it had been a “brutal and sustained assault” and that “there is no better evidence than a freely given, voluntary confession.”

Robert Merritt - also known as Bob - was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics at 1.12am. He was found on his bed by emergency services.

Mr Jackson said he had suffered 16 stab wounds, including the most severe to his neck, chest and abdomen.

Mr Jackson said Adam Merritt told a mental health nurse he had taken a dose of his antipsychotic medication the night before the alleged attack - but had stopped taking the medication two weeks before that.

The court also heard that father and son were planning to move away from Peterborough the next week.

The Trial of Fact continues.