The Teacup Poisoner
Poisoners are a rare breed. They generally make their cold, premeditated drawn-out attacks on friends and family. Graham Young was one such evil killer. Poison, that favourite weapon of the Victorian murderer, is a comparative rarity nowadays. It accounts for less than three percent of all criminal homicides in the developed world. Modern science and the fact that the poisoner is usually closely related to his victims makes for ease of detection. There remains, however, the rare but real spectre of a motiveless, psychopathic poisoner with means and opportunity. In the spring of 1971, 23-year old Graham Young applied for a job at Hadland Laboratories, manufacturers of photographic equipment, at Bovington, Hertfordshire. A neat, precisely spoken young man, he told the managing director, Godfrey Foster, that he had no worked since leaving school because of a nervous breakdown, but was now fully recovered. Foster was impressed and took Young on as an assistant store man. Young’s imme...