Death no mercy, says woman's son

TONY WALL speaks to a son of the elderly Howick woman strangled in her bed.

Cancer sufferer Marjorie Simpson was ready for death. She wished to go peacefully, quietly and with dignity.

Instead, the 82-year-old great-grandmother was strangled in her bed, sparking a police murder inquiry and a wave of publicity that would have horrified the intensely private Howick widow.

Mrs Simpson did get one wish: she was farewelled yesterday in a private funeral service at Howick's quaint All Saints Church, attended by a tight-knit group of friends and family.

The mourners struggled with conflicting feelings of sorrow and anger at the circumstances surrounding the death on Tuesday night.

It was first thought that she might have been the victim of a mercy killing, but son James Simpson, an Auckland property investor, scotched any suggestion of euthanasia in an interview yesterday with the Herald.

"She would never want to kill herself; she was a fighter. She would never agree to that in a million years - she would see it as humiliating for her children to live with the memory of that. She was just a brave, gutsy fighter with a hell of a lot of integrity."

Mr Simpson said the family were shocked to see "throttle marks" around Mrs Simpson's neck and were devastated that she had died painfully.

"I would like to see whoever was responsible for my mother's death charged and convicted. Whoever achieved this was just an animal, a maniac for the way they left my mother."

It is understood that police were called to Mrs Simpson's two-storeyed home in Kayeleen Place on Tuesday night by two of her sons.

The officer in charge of the case, Detective Sergeant Mark Gutry, said it appeared from inquiries that Mrs Simpson was not a party to her death.

"It would seem that [euthanasia] was not an option for her - she was ready to go, but she did not want to end it."

He said any charges were still some weeks off as police were awaiting the results of forensic tests.

Mrs Simpson's GP, Dr Graeme Kidd, said she was suffering a form of bowel cancer and was "getting close to the end."

Dr Kidd saw her the day before she died and she was "pretty low." She was taking morphine for the pain, as well as anti-nausea medication.

Mr Simpson said his mother was diagnosed with cancer about five years ago but went into remission and it did not return until about five months ago.

In the past few months she had been forced to resign from her beloved Howick Bridge Club and was mostly bedridden. An elderly sister from the South Island had exhausted herself nursing her in the past few weeks.

Mr Simpson said that although his mother was frail and ill, she remained active, alert and in her right mind. He had taken her on an outing as recently as a week ago.

He could not think of a motive for her murder. He did not believe money was behind it.

Mrs Simpson, nee Thwaites, was born in Glenroy, Canterbury. Her family came to New Zealand on one of the first four ships.

She trained as a dental nurse in Wellington and married post office worker Roy Simpson in 1941.

After Mr Simpson returned from the war, the couple and their four sons lived in Amberley and Nelson before shifting to Auckland in the 1960s.

Mr Simpson was postmaster at Pt Chevalier, Newmarket and Howick before he retired. He died 18 years ago.