Graham Young was a unique poisoner in that he seems that have poisoned just about everyone he came into contact with, including himself a few times by accident. Young started his career as a poisoner at 14 in 1961, by poisoning his family with antimony and digitalis. Most of the people he poisoned became violently ill, but did not die. He poisoned his father, step mother, sister, and a school friend. His stepmother, whom he had hated from a young age, died, but it was not known until later that she had been poisoned.
Suspicions grew and Young soon confessed to poisoning his family, and was incarcerated at Broadmoor Hospital in 1962, a maximum-security mental institution for criminals. During his nine years at Broadmoor he passed the time by improving his knowledge of poisons and continuing his “experiments” on the staff and inmates, one of whom died of cyanide poisoning that Graham seems to have compounded himself from laurel bush leaves on the property. He also poisoned the staff’s coffee with harpic bleach from the toilets, and their tea with sugar soap. Had his poisons not been detected he could easily have killed all 97 people on staff. After that the staff would scold inmates saying, “Unless you behave, I’ll let Graham make your coffee.” In 1971 doctors deemed his recovery complete. Young was released and his record sealed. Prior to his release he wrote a letter to his sister stating that he would kill one person for every year he had spent incarcerated. The comment was entered into his record, but Young was released anyway.
LInk to the whole twisted ball of wax:
1 comment:
I hope that he isn't a barista somewhere.
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