Metta Fock

Metta (or Mätta) Charlotta Fock, née Ridderbjelke (10 June 1765 – 7 November 1810), was a Swedish noble and sentenced murderer.

Metta Fock was rumored in the parish to have a lover, the married sergeant and game keeper Johan Fägercrantz, who often visited Lilla Gisslaved and to whom she often sent letters.

The messengers she sent to deliver the letters were always illiterate, but later claimed to have showed them to a major, who read them and later testified that they included love poems.

In June 1802, Metta Fock's eldest son, the thirteen-year-old Claes, her three-year-old deaf mute daughter Charlotta, and finally her spouse Henrik Johan, all died within a couple of days after having experienced violent vomiting, temporarily improvement, followed by a hasty death.

After their death, Metta Fock left home and spent a couple of days with her eldest daughter's fiancé and then at the Norwegian border, before she returned.

These events, coupled with the rumors of her love affair, resulted in a suggestion from the local länsman to have an autopsy performed on the remains of her spouse.

A law at the time allowed for an accused person who could not be judged guilty but was regarded as dangerous for society to be kept prisoner awaiting their confession.

She protested to the monarch and was granted a reprieve and allowed to summon more witnesses to her defense; however, the prison sentence was confirmed in November 1805.

On 10 December 1805, during her time in prison, Metta Fock made a message of appeal by embroidery on 27 bits of linen cloth which she had sewn together, as she was not granted the right to pen and paper.