Last week we reported upon Kenneth Heald, who was having an affair with a married woman and shot dead his parents to save them from the embarrassment caused by his behaviour.

After he shot them with his father’s gun, he intended to kill himself but never did. Here is the next act in the sad saga.

Kenneth left his parent's house the day after the murder. He travelled to Southampton, intending to remain with his married girlfriend, Vera Dardenella Yeoman, aged 31 of Deacon Crescent, Southampton.

He wanted her to leave her husband for him with her two sons, David, aged six and Raymond, aged eleven. At her house, she said that she did not want to leave straight away and arranged to meet him later in Southampton.

The meeting took place, and during it, she noticed that he had blood on his hand. He explained that he had been shooting at a cat, to which she replied, “I hope you didn’t kill it!” “No, he replied, I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

They arranged to go away, and the following day, they went to London, taking one of her sons with them.

Each left a letter for her husband, and from April 15 to April 20, they stayed at a hotel in London. Whilst there, Mrs Yeoman noticed that his small case remained locked.

Six days after the murder, the police forced their way into the Heald’s home following a report that they had not been seen.

The bodies were found in the scullery and the landing.

When the bodies were discovered, the police found a note in Kenneth’s handwriting addressed to the chief constable of Southport and Major Alfred Ernest Heald of Weaverham, his uncle.

The letter read, ‘I did this to keep all the worry from Mum and Dad, who I love dearly, May God forgive me.’

Kenneth Heald was circulated as wanted. The post mortem was carried out by Dr Grace of Chester. His findings corroborated the explanation given to the police by Kenneth Heald.

Namely that he had shot his father in the head twice and once in the chest, and he had shot his mother in the head also twice. The gun used was his father's Webley revolver.

The tragedy had evoked among people in Weaverham and their many friends in the Northwich District deep sympathy for the mother of Major Herbert Heald and other members of the family.

The news of the tragedy reached the people of Weaverham when the police contacted Miss Lilian Agnes Heald, Herbert Heald’s sister. She travelled to Southport together with her brother-in-law to identify the bodies.

Next week, we look at the arrest of Kenneth Heald and the result of the trial at Liverpool Assizes.

The story will come to a somewhat controversial ending...