The Trials of Nurse Kerr

Did New Zealand have a secret poisoner?

In 1992, builders demolishing a Devonport home stumbled across a skeleton, triggering an investigation that sent shockwaves across the community. The remains belonged to a woman who had died in the 1930s, and whispers soon emerged of the deadly legacy of Nurse Elspeth Kerr.

Now all but forgotten, a series of court trials gripped New Zealand in the early 1930s. Nurse Elspeth was formally accused of poisoning her husband, her foster daught…