Graham Frederick Young

Graham Frederick Young (7 September 1947 – 1 August 1990), best known as the Teacup Poisoner and later the St Albans Poisoner, was an English serial killer who used poison to kill his victims.

Obsessed with poisons from an early age, Young began poisoning relatives and school friends by lacing their food and drink with thallium and antimony. He was caught when his schoolteacher became concerned by his interest in poisons and contacted the police. In 1962, at the age of 14, Young was charged with administering poison to his father, sister and schoolfriend and detained at Broadmoor Hospital. Young would later claim responsibility for the death of his stepmother, although he was never charged with this crime. The presiding judge stipulated that Young should not be released without the Home Secretary's authorization for 15 years.

In 1971, Young was deemed rehabilitated and released from Broadmoor. He found a job as a storekeeper at a factory in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, where his duties included making tea for his colleagues. Soon afterwards, Young began poisoning his workmates, resulting in two fatalities and several others left critically ill. The deaths were initially attributed to a mysterious bug, but Young's odd behaviour and his penchant for showing off his considerable knowledge of poisons aroused suspicions and he was arrested. Large quantities of poison were found in his bedsit along with a diary detailing his poisonings. In 1972, he was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served most of his sentence at HM Prison Parkhurst, where he died of a heart attack in 1990.

The Young case made headlines in Britain and led to a public debate over the release of mentally ill offenders. Within hours of his conviction, the British Government announced two inquiries into the issues it raised. The Butler Committee led to widespread reforms in mental health services. The outcry over the ease with which Young was able to obtain deadly poisons led to the passage of the 1972 Poisons Act. Young's life story inspired the 1995 film ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook''.

Early life and crimes

Young was born in Neasden in Middlesex on 7 September 1947 to Frederick and Bessie Young. He had an older sister, Winifred Young. Bessie died of tuberculous pleurisy when Graham was 14 weeks old. He was sent by his father to live with an uncle and aunt, while his sister went to live with their grandparents. Several years later, Frederick Young remarried, to another woman named Molly, and the family were re-united.

He was fascinated from an early age by poisons and their effects. He read extensively about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. William Palmer, the Victorian poisoner, also became a hero of Young's. In 1959 Young passed his eleven-plus, and went to grammar school. He also started to read books on advanced toxicology.

In 1961, Young acquired antimony from a local chemist; his knowledge of chemistry and poisons convinced the chemist that he was older than he appeared. He signed the poisons register in the name "M.E. Evans". He began poisoning his stepmother, father and sister. Beginning in February, Molly Young suffered vomiting, diarrhoea and excruciating stomach pain, which she initially dismissed as bilious attacks. Before long his father was also suffering, with similar stomach cramps debilitating him for days at a time. Then Young's sister was violently ill on a couple of occasions that summer. Shortly afterwards, Young himself was violently sick at home. It even seemed as if the mystery bug had spread beyond their household: a couple of Young's school friends had also been off school ill a couple of times with similar painful symptoms.

In November 1961, Winifred Young was served a cup of tea by her brother one morning, but found its taste so sour she took only one mouthful before she threw it away. While on the train to work an hour later, she began to hallucinate, had to be helped out of the station and was eventually taken to hospital, where doctors came to the conclusion that she had somehow been exposed to the poisonous ''Atropa belladonna''. Fred Young confronted his son, but Graham blamed Winifred, whom he claimed had been using the family's teacups to mix shampoo. Unconvinced, Fred searched Graham's room, but found nothing incriminating. Nevertheless, he warned his son to be more careful in future when "messing about with those bloody chemicals".

On Easter Saturday, 21 April 1962, Molly Young died. Her death was attributed to a prolapsed cervical disc, which was believed to have resulted from a road accident. Much later, Young told police that he poisoned her with a lethal dose of thallium. At her wake, Young poisoned a male relative after lacing a jar of mustard pickle with antimony. Shortly afterwards his father became seriously ill and was taken to hospital where he was told that he was suffering from antimony poisoning and one more dose would have killed him. Young's aunt, who knew of his fascination with chemistry and poisons, became suspicious, as did his science teacher (Mr Hughes) who discovered several bottles of poison in Young's desk and spoke to the school's headmaster about his concerns. They arranged for Young to be interviewed by a psychiatrist, posing as a careers advisor, who contacted the police after Young revealed his extensive knowledge of poisons and toxicology.

Young was arrested on 23 May 1962 after returning home from school. Vials of thallium and antimony were found in his possession. When questioned by police, he confessed to poisoning his father, stepmother, sister and school friend Chris Williams. Psychiatrist Dr Christopher Fysh testified that Young had a psychopathic disorder rather than a mental illness, and had failed "to develop a normal moral sense." He felt it was "extremely likely" that Young would re-offend, and recounted a conversation in which Young said: "I am missing my antimony. I miss the power it gives me." Fysh recommended that Young be detained at Broadmoor Hospital, an institution for patients with mental disorders who have committed offences. Dr Donald Blair, another psychiatrist, concurred with Fysh's viewpoint.

Young pleaded guilty to three charges of poisoning his father, sister and Chris Williams and was convicted of "malicious administration of a noxious thing to inflict grievous bodily harm". He was not charged for murdering his stepmother, as her autopsy report did not list poison as the cause of death. The judge, Justice Melford Stevenson, ruled that Young was to be detained under section 60 of the Mental Health Act in Broadmoor Hospital. Furthermore, he was not to be released for 15 years without the approval of the Home Secretary.

Broadmoor

At 14, Young was among Broadmoor's youngest ever inmates. During his time at Broadmoor, there were a number of poisoning incidents. Soon after his arrival, John Berridge, a fellow inmate, died of cyanide poisoning. Young was suspected by some staff and inmates, not least because he enjoyed explaining in detail how cyanide can be extracted from laurel leaves; the grounds around Broadmoor were covered with laurel bushes. However, Young's involvement was never proven and the death was officially ruled a suicide. Later, Harpic was found in a nurse's coffee and the contents of a missing packet of sugar soap were discovered in a tea urn.

He continued to read medical and toxicology textbooks, obtained from Broadmoor's library. He also continued his interest in Nazism, reading William Shirer's ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'' and Lord Russell's ''The Scourge of the Swastika''. At one point, he grew a toothbrush moustache and took to mimicking the speeches of Hitler and listening to composer Richard Wagner, who had been one of Hitler's idols.

Young first applied for release from Broadmoor in 1965. His father and sister attended the tribunal and stated that if Young was released, none of his relatives would be willing to house him. Fred Young also told the hearing that his son should "never be released". Young's application was rejected.

In June 1970, after Young had spent nearly eight years in Broadmoor, Edgar Udwin, the prison psychiatrist, wrote to the Home Secretary to recommend his release, announcing that Young "is no longer obsessed with poisons, violence and mischief. And he is no longer a danger to others." However, Young remarked to a Broadmoor nurse: "When I get out, I'm going to kill one person for every year I've spent in this place."

One of Young's fellow patients at Broadmoor was the criminal Roy Shaw. In his autobiography ''Pretty Boy'' (2003), Shaw recounted his friendship with Young.

Later crimes

After his release from Broadmoor in February 1971, Young initially stayed with his sister Winifred and her husband in Hemel Hempstead. Within weeks he had resumed his interest in poisons. An attempt to acquire poison from John Bell & Croyden in Wigmore Street was unsuccessful, as the chemist refused to sell them without written authorization. Young duly returned with the required authorization on Bedford College headed notepaper and was sold 25 g of antimony potassium tartrate. He told the chemist that he needed it for a qualitative and quantitative analysis. He later returned to the same chemist to purchase 25 g of thallium.

Poisoning of Trevor Sparkes

Young attended a store keeping training course in Slough and stayed at a hostel in nearby Cippenham. He befriended 34-year-old Trevor Sparkes, another resident of the hostel, and the two occasionally visited the pub together or shared a bottle of wine in Sparkes' room. Young would later confess to poisoning Sparkes with antimony sodium tartrate. On the night of February 10, Sparkes was violently sick, had diarrhea, pins and needles in his legs and pains in his testicles; earlier in the evening he had accepted a glass of water from Young. Sparkes' symptoms returned periodically over the following months. He felt so ill during a football match that he had to leave the pitch after a few minutes. Specialists were unable to pinpoint the cause, variously diagnosing it as a kidney infection, bowel infection, urinary tract infection or stomach infection. Sparkes left Slough in April 1971 and gradually recovered, though he never played football again.

The Bovingdon bug

Young secured a job as assistant storekeeper at John Hadland Laboratories in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, near his sister's home in Hemel Hempstead. The company manufactured thallium bromide-iodide infrared lenses, which were used in military equipment. However, no thallium was stored on site, and Young obtained his supplies of the poison from a London chemist. On his application, Young stated that he had studied chemistry and toxicology. He explained that his lack of employment history was because he had suffered a nervous breakdown following the death of his mother in a car accident. His employers received references as part of Young's rehabilitation from Broadmoor, but were not informed of his past as a convicted poisoner. Young's probation officer never visited Young's home or place of work. Young left Slough and rented a room in Maynard Road, Hemel Hempstead, at £4 per week.

His new colleagues found him unpredictable; he could be surly and kept to himself, but on other days he was more cheery. During breaks he usually sat alone reading, invariably a book on one of his favourite subjects: war, chemistry, Nazi Germany or famous murderers. He was not talkative, unless one of his favourite topics was being discussed. Young's duties at Hadland included collecting drinks from the tea trolley in the corridor and bringing them to the storeroom. Each employee had their own mug, which made it easier for him to target specific individuals for poisoning.

Soon after Young's arrival at Hadland, he started poisoning his co-workers, mostly focusing on his immediate colleagues in the store rooms. His ''modus operandi'' was to slip poison, usually antimony or thallium, into their tea or coffee. Victims would fall ill with symptoms that included vomiting, stomach pains, nausea and diarrhoea. Initially, the mysterious illness was assumed to be a virus and was nicknamed the "Bovingdon Bug". Other explanations put forward were contamination of the local water supply and radioactivity from a disused airfield nearby.

Murder of Bob Egle

59-year-old Bob Egle was storeroom manager at Hadland and Young's immediate superior. Egle was a Dunkirk veteran and Young - a Second World War enthusiast - often asked about his wartime experiences. Young began poisoning Egle in June, weeks after his arrival at the company. Egle had several days off work with diarrhoea and severe stomach pains. His health improved after a week-long holiday, but on his return Young put a lethal dose of thallium in his afternoon tea. Egle's condition deteriorated rapidly from this point. He complained of intense back pain and numbness in his fingers and feet. He was transferred to the intensive care unit at St Albans City Hospital, where paralysis set in. Young showed a strong concern for Egle, repeatedly contacting the hospital for updates on his progress. Egle finally died on 7 July 1971. A post-mortem attributed Egle's death to a rare form of polyneuritis known as Guillain–Barré syndrome. Young was chosen to accompany managing director Godfrey Foster to Egle's funeral, as a representative of the department Egle managed. Foster recalled Young remarking how sad it was that "Bob should come through the terrors of Dunkirk

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