Graham Young

Young was born in Neasden in Middlesex on 7 September 1947 to Frederick and Molly Young. He had an older sister, Winifred. Molly died of tuberculous pleurisy when Graham was 14 weeks old.[1] 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.[2] He read extensively about Hitler and Nazi Germany.[1] William Palmer, the Victorian poisoner, also became a hero of Young's.[1] 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".[1] 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.[1] 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.[1]

Young was arrested on 23 May 1962 after returning home from school. Vials of thallium and antimony were found in his possession.[1] 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."[3] Fysh recommended that Young be detained at Broadmoor Hospital, an institution for patients with mental disorders who have committed offences.[1] 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.[3] The judge Mr Justice Stevenson ruled that Young was to be detained under section 60 of the Mental Health Act in Broadmoor Hospital.[3] Furthermore, he was not to be released for 15 years without the approval of the Home Secretary.

At 14, Young was among Broadmoor's youngest ever inmates, though not the youngest. In 1885, Bill Giles was sent to Broadmoor at the age of 10; Giles died at the institution shortly before Young's arrival.[4]

During Young's 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.[5] However, Young's involvement was never proven and the death was officially ruled a suicide.[6] 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.[7]

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.[6] At one point, he grew a toothbrush moustache and took to mimicking the speeches of Hitler and listening to Wagner.[4]

Young first applied for release from Broadmoor in 1965. His father and aunt Winifred 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.[8]

In June 1970, after 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."[9] 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."[10]

Subsequent analysis has also suggested signs of the autism spectrum (cf Bowden 1996).

The Secretary of State later noted that the index offences, for someone found sane, carried a sentence of no more than seven or eight years.

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.

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.[11] He later returned to the same chemist to purchase 25 g of thallium.[12]

The management at Hadland became so concerned about the mysterious sickness that they initiated an investigation. Moreover, some of Young's co-workers began to have suspicions about him. Diana Smart noticed that he was never affected by the bug and suggested he might be a carrier of the virus. Philip Doggett informed the management of Young's unhealthy interest in poisons.[26] The firm's medical officer, Dr Iain Anderson, told staff that he had ruled out heavy metal poisoning as a possible cause, which led to an argument with Young, who insisted that the symptoms displayed by victims pointed to this diagnosis.[1] Intrigued by the young storeman who seemed knowledgeable about medicine, Anderson sought out Young after the meeting and quizzed him further. He quickly discovered that Young had a deep knowledge of poisons and toxicology, which prompted John Hadland, the firm's owner, to contact the police.[27] The investigating officers noticed that the onset of the "Bovingdon bug" coincided with Young's arrival at the company. A police background check revealed Young's earlier poisoning convictions.[28]

Young was arrested at the home of his aunt and uncle in Sheerness, Kent, on 20 November 1971. Nothing incriminating was found on his person. He denied any wrongdoing, but as he was being led away his aunt overheard him ask the officers "which one is it you're doing me for?" When police searched his bedsit, they discovered a large stash of bottles containing poisons, including 434 milligrams of thallium and 32.33 grams of antimony, the latter 200 times a lethal dose. Other poisons in his possession included atropine, aconitine and digitalis. His lodgings were covered in swastikas and pictures of Hitler and other Nazis. Police also discovered a detailed diary that Young had kept, noting the doses he had administered, their effects, and whether he was going to allow each person to live or die.[29] Upon further questioning by police, he admitted that the initials in the diary referred to his co-workers ('F' was Fred Biggs, 'D' was David Tilson and so on).

He confessed to poisoning Egle, Biggs, Batt, Tilson and Trevor Sparkes, and said that he deliberately used different poisons in order to confuse doctors. He also boasted of having committed the "perfect murder" by killing his stepmother Molly. He spent twenty minutes explaining to the officers the effects that thallium has on the human body. When asked why he had poisoned people who were his friends and colleagues, Young responded: "I suppose I had ceased to see them as a people - at least, a part of me had. They were simply guinea pigs."[30]

Young was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, four counts of administering poison with intent to injure and four alternative counts of administering poison with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.[31] He pleaded not guilty, which made it difficult to find a barrister willing to represent him and the trial date had to be postponed several times.[32] Eventually, Sir Arthur Irvine QC agreed to defend him. John Leonard QC led the prosecution for the Crown. The judge was Mr Justice Eveleigh. The trial was held at St Albans Crown Court and started on 19 June 1972.[32]

Due to safeguards protecting defendants, the jury could not be told of Young's previous convictions for poisoning.[22] Young retracted his earlier confession to the police, claiming he had only made it in order to get some rest. Nevertheless, the evidence against him was strong. The prosecution called 75 witnesses to testify against him. Young himself was the only witness in his defence. Excerpts from Young's diary were read out in court. Young claimed the diary was a fantasy for a novel.[33][34] Examination of Fred Biggs' internal organs found thallium in his intestines, kidneys, muscles, bones and brain tissue.[25] The cremated remains of Bob Egle, which had not yet been scattered, were also analysed and found to contain 9 mg of thallium.[25] The latter was the first instance of cremated ashes being used as evidence in a murder conviction.[35]

On 29 June 1972, after one hour and 38 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Young guilty of two counts of murder (Bob Egle and Fred Biggs), two counts of attempted murder (Jethro Batt and David Tilson) and two counts of administering poison with intent to injure (Diana Smart and Ronald Hewitt).[31] He was found not guilty of administering poison to Trevor Sparkes and Peter Buck, and was acquitted on all four counts of administering poison with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.[31] Through his counsel, Young requested that he be sent to a conventional prison rather than return to Broadmoor. His request was granted, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to be served at HM Prison Park Lane in Maghull later changing to Ashworth Hospital.

During his stay at Ashworth he was moved from cells due to him being able to make a poison out of seven common household items with no antidote for it, so was moved regularly and cells searched. He would have regular visits from the medical director and during these visits Young said to the medical director that he had seen on the medical journals that a trial drug from America would be beneficial to him; they looked into this and ordered a batch from America and got him on a two week course. After the two weeks another interview with Young was arranged, during which Young informed the medical director that it seemed to be working but the effects wore off and asked for the dose to be increased. This was done and after a further two weeks another review was arranged. During this review, Young asked for his solicitor to be notified as Park Lane had been overdosing him; he was later transferred to HMP Parkhurst.

While in prison, Young befriended Moors murderer Ian Brady, with whom he shared a fascination for Nazi Germany. Brady's 2001 book, The Gates of Janus, in which he discusses various serial killers, includes a chapter on Young. Brady wrote that Young "was genuinely asexual, finding even discussion of sexual matters not only uninteresting but also distinctly distasteful... Power and death were his aphrodisiacs and raisons d’être."[36] Elsewhere Brady stated that "it was difficult not to empathise with Graham Young."[37]

Young died in his cell at Parkhurst prison on the evening of 1 August 1990, one month before his 43rd birthday. The cause of death was listed as myocardial infarction at an inquest, after a postmortem. As Young had no history of heart disease, it has been speculated that he either committed suicide, or was murdered by prisoners or prison staff who did not feel safe around him.[38]

On 29 June 1972, the day Young's trial ended, Home Secretary Reginald Maudling gave a statement in the House of Commons about the case and the issues it raised.[39][40] He confirmed that more safeguards were to be introduced governing the release of mentally ill offenders. Henceforth, no patient at a special hospital was to be discharged without two concurring recommendations from psychiatrists. Supervision of released patients was also to be improved.[40]

Maudling ordered a review of current procedures for releasing offenders from psychiatric hospitals. The review was to be carried out by a three man committee headed by Sir Carl Aarvold, Recorder of London.[40] Their findings were published in January 1973.[41] Maudling also announced an inquiry to review the management of mentally ill offenders in the criminal justice system, to be chaired by Lord Butler of Saffron Walden.[40] This led to the Butler Committee's recommendations in 1975, which resulted in the expansion in forensic mental health services with the development of regional (now referred to as medium) secure units in most of the health regions in England and Wales. Prior to that there had been only the high security hospitals of Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth.[42]

Soon after Young's conviction, reports of copycat poisonings appeared in the British press.[43] In April 1973, Howard Grodnow of Ealing, London, committed suicide. Grodnow became convinced that he had been poisoned by Young after reading about the case. For the past 18 months he had suffered from severe chest pains, which he traced back to an encounter, in a Hemel Hempstead pub, with a young man obsessed with poisons and chemicals.[44] In November 2005, a 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl was arrested for poisoning her mother with thallium. She claimed to be fascinated by Young, having seen the 1995 film (see below), and kept an online blog, similar to Young's diary, recording dosage and reactions.[45][46]

A 1995 film called The Young Poisoner's Handbook is loosely based on Young's life.[47]

Young was the subject of an episode of the ITV series Crime Story, entitled "Terrible Coldness". It was broadcast on 6 October 1993. Young was portrayed by Mark Womack.

During his trial, Young expressed his hope that his waxwork would appear in Madame Tussauds' Chamber of Horrors.[48] He later got his wish and his likeness appeared in the exhibit near those of his boyhood heroes Dr. Crippen and John Haigh.[49]

In 2009, a painting of the Kray twins by Young was sold at an auction in Andover for £2,700.[50]

• List of serial killers by country

• Emsley, John (2005), The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, OUP Oxford, ISBN 9780191517358
• Holden, Anthony (1995), The St Albans Poisoner, Corgi Books, ISBN 9780552144087
• Lloyd, Georgina (1990), With Malice Aforethought, Bantam Press, ISBN 978-0-553-40273-5
• Michael H. Stone, M.D. & Gary Brucato, Ph.D., The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books), pp. 479–480. ISBN 978-1-63388-532-5.

• Bowden, Paul (1996). "Graham Young (1947–90); the St Albans poisoner: his life and times". Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health. 6: 17–24. doi:10.1002/cbm.132.
• Crimelibrary entry for Graham Young
• The Young Poisoner's Handbook at IMDb
• Debate in Parliament about the case (Hansard, HC Deb 29 June 1972 vol 839 cc1673-85).
• The Teacup Poisoner at IMDb (Documentary of Young's life presented by Fred Dinenage)