NOTE: Our True Crime Tuesday series will highlight the stories of serial killers and other criminals, with potentially triggering and offensive detail discussed. Proceed with caution.
This is the case of Graham Young, The Teacup Poisoner. Welcome back to True Crime Tuesday.
An introduction to the case
Born on September 7, 1947, in Middlesex, England, Graham Frederick Young didn't have your typical childhood. His mother died just a few months following his birth, and he was then sent by his father to live with an uncle and aunt, split up from his older sister, who would go to live with their grandparents. He would then be rehoused once more, going back to live with his father and new stepmother. A turbulent time for anybody, let alone a young boy.
Said to be fascinated in his early years by poisons and their effects, this obsession would lead to a deadly poisoning spree, which he would return to even after spending time behind bars.
The start of Young's criminality
Young would start to test poisons on his family in 1961, when he was aged just 14. His sister, Winifred Young, would be one of the first that he attacked, serving her a cup of tea in the family home. Taking only one mouthful of the cup of tea he made for her before throwing it away, she would later begin to hallucinate on the train to work. Eventually, she would be taken to hospital, where doctors concluded she had been exposed to the poisonous Atropa belladonna.
Commonly known as deadly nightshade, the plant is native to Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. The foliage and berries grown as part of the plant are extremely toxic when ingested, so Winifred was very lucky to have escaped the poisoning with her life.
Young's stepmother, Molly, would not be so fortunate. On Easter Saturday, April 21, 1962, she died from poisoning, and Young's father would quickly fall sick shortly afterwards. Seriously ill, he was taken to hospital where he was saved, but told he was suffering from antimony poisoning, and that one more dose would have been lethal.
Young's aunt and his teacher would become suspicious about the nephew and student, and the teenager was then sent to a psychiatrist, who recommended the police get involved.
Young's arrest, confession and detainment
Young was arrested on May 23, 1962, and quickly confessed to the attempted murders of his father, sister and friend. This led to his detainment under the Mental Health Act in Broadmoor Hospital, after assessment from two psychiatrists prior to his trial. He was diagnosed with a personality disorder and schizophrenia.
After serving nine years, Young was released after being deemed "fully recovered". Unfortunately, this wasn't at all the case...
Young's return to crime
Despite being signed off by the prison psychiatrist, Young had studied medical texts inside the facility, improving his knowledge when it came to poisons, and continued to experiment on inmates and staff. Rumours suggest he could extract cyanide from laurel bush leaves at the hospital, and that he used the poison to then murder fellow inmate John Berridge.
Young would start work as a quartermaster following his release from prison at John Hadland Laboratories in Hertfordshire. It sounds like a ridiculous place for a convicted murderer who uses poison to be allowed to pick up work, but no thallium was stored on site. Instead, Young would get hold of his poison from a London chemist.
Soon after picking up his job, Young's foreman, Bob Egle, grew ill before dying. Young had been making tea laced with poison not only for him, but his fellow colleagues. A sickness hounded his workplace, but was mistaken for a virus. It's incomprehensible how so many would miss that these may be the actions of a killer.
Many more were poisoned, and Young would take the life of his final victim and workmate, Fred Biggs.
Eventually, an investigation was opened up, and Young was arrested on November 21, 1971. Police found him with thallium in his pockets, as well as more stocks of the poison as well as antimony and aconitine in his home. They also found a diary of notes which detailed what he had administered, to whom, the effects, and whether each person would be allowed to live or die.
His final trial
Young would plead not guilty at his trial at St Albans Crown Court, claiming that the diary he kept was fantasy for a novel. Despite his plea, after 10 days he would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Whilst there, he befriended Moors murderer Ian Brady, who wrote in his own book The Gates of Janus that "it was hard not to have empathy" for the serial killer.
Young passed away in his cell at Parkhurst prison on August 1, 1990, aged 42. His postmortem revealed that he had had a heart attack.
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