Graham Young

Graham Frederick Young (7 September 1947 – 1 August 1990) was an English serial killer who used poison to kill his victims. He was sent to Broadmoor Hospital in 1962 after poisoning several members of his family, killing his stepmother. After his release in 1971 he went on to poison 70 more people, two of whom died. Young, who was known as the Teacup Poisoner, was then sent to Parkhurst Prison where he died of a heart attack in 1990.

Young was born in Neasden, north west London. His mother died a few months after his birth. He was sent by his father to live with an uncle and aunt, while his older sister went to live with grandparents. A few years later he was separated from his aunt and uncle in order to live with his father and new stepmother.

He was fascinated from an early age by poisons and their effects. In 1959 Young passed his eleven-plus, and went to Grammar School.

In 1961, he started to test poisons (including antimony) on his family, enough to make them violently ill. Since February, 37-year-old Molly Young had suffered vomiting, diarrhea and excruciating stomach pain, which she initially dismissed as bilious attacks. Before long her husband Fred, 44, 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 infected with the rare poison Atropa belladonna. Fred Young confronted his son, but Graham blamed Winifred, who 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."

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Wikipedia