1. Graham Young was caught when his teacher became suspicious and contacted the police.
72 Facts About Graham Young
1. 2.
Graham Young pleaded guilty to three non-fatal poisonings and, at age 14, was detained at Broadmoor Hospital.
3.
Graham Young later took responsibility for the death of his stepmother, though this has not been proven.
4.
Graham Young was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in 1972.
5.
Graham Young served most of his life sentence at HM Prison Parkhurst, where he died of a heart attack in 1990.
6.
The Graham Young case made headlines in the United Kingdom and led to a public debate over the release of mentally ill offenders.
7.
Graham Young was born on Sunday, 7 September 1947 to Frederick and Bessie Young in Neasden, Middlesex; he had an older sister, Winifred.
8.
Several years later, Graham Young's father remarried and the family were re-united.
9.
Graham Young was fascinated from an early age by poisons and their effects, and considered Victorian poisoner William Palmer to be a personal hero.
10.
Graham Young read extensively about black magic, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
11.
In 1959, Graham Young attended John Kelly Boys' School, where he started to read books on advanced toxicology.
12.
Graham Young was confronted by his father, but he claimed that Winifred had been using the family's teacups to mix shampoo.
13.
Unconvinced, Graham Young's father searched his room but found nothing incriminating.
14.
Graham Young's death was attributed to a prolapsed cervical disc, which was believed to have resulted from a road accident.
15.
Much later, Graham Young told police that he poisoned her with a lethal dose of thallium.
16.
At her wake, Graham Young poisoned a male relative after lacing a jar of mustard pickle with antimony.
17.
The teacher and the headmaster arranged for Graham Young to be interviewed by a psychiatrist posing as a careers advisor, who contacted police after Graham Young revealed his extensive knowledge of poisons and toxicology.
18.
Graham Young was arrested on 23 May 1962 after returning home from school.
19.
Graham Young was not charged for murdering his stepmother, as her autopsy report did not list poison as the cause of death.
20.
The judge, Justice Melford Stevenson, ruled that Graham Young was to be detained under Section 60 of the Mental Health Act at Broadmoor.
21.
At age 14, Graham Young was among the youngest-ever inmates in Broadmoor's history.
22.
Graham Young was suspected by some staff and inmates, not least because he enjoyed explaining in detail how cyanide could be extracted from laurel leaves; the grounds around Broadmoor were covered with laurel bushes.
23.
However, Graham Young's involvement was never proven and Berridge's death was officially ruled a suicide.
24.
Graham Young continued to read medical and toxicology textbooks, obtained from Broadmoor's library.
25.
Graham Young 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.
26.
At one point, Graham Young grew a toothbrush moustache and took to mimicking the speeches of Hitler and listening to musical compositions by Richard Wagner, who had been one of Hitler's idols.
27.
Graham Young was released from Broadmoor in 1971, after eight years' detention.
28.
Graham Young initially stayed with his sister and her husband in Hemel Hempstead.
29.
Graham Young told the chemist that he needed it for a qualitative and quantitative analysis.
30.
Graham Young attended a storekeeping training course in Slough and stayed at a hostel in nearby Cippenham.
31.
Graham Young befriended 34-year-old Trevor Sparkes, another resident of the hostel, and the two occasionally visited a pub together or shared a bottle of wine in Sparkes' room.
32.
Graham Young felt so ill during a football match that he had to leave the pitch after a few minutes.
33.
Graham Young secured a job as assistant storekeeper at John Hadland Laboratories in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, near his sister's home in Hemel Hempstead.
34.
Graham Young manufactured thallium bromide-iodide infrared lenses, which were used in military equipment.
35.
However, no thallium was stored on site, necessitating Graham Young obtaining his supplies of the poison from a London chemist.
36.
Graham Young's employers received references as part of his rehabilitation from Broadmoor, but were not informed that he was a convicted poisoner and a former Broadmoor patient.
37.
Graham Young was not talkative unless one of his favourite topics was being discussed.
38.
Graham Young began to fall ill in June 1971, weeks after Young's arrival at the company, taking several days off work with diarrhoea and severe stomach pains.
39.
Graham Young's health improved after a week-long holiday, but on his return Young put a lethal dose of thallium in his afternoon tea.
40.
Graham Young was transferred to the intensive care unit at St Albans City Hospital, where paralysis set in.
41.
Graham Young seemingly showed a strong concern for Egle, repeatedly contacting the hospital for updates on his progress.
42.
Graham Young was chosen to accompany managing director Godfrey Foster to Egle's funeral as a representative of the department Egle had managed.
43.
On 8 October 1971, Graham Young put thallium acetate in David Tilson's tea.
44.
Graham Young administered a second dose of thallium a week later.
45.
Graham Young's skin was so tender he could not endure the weight of the bedsheets, and all his hair fell out.
46.
Graham Young had a back-up plan to visit Tilson in hospital and offer him a bottle of brandy laced with more thallium.
47.
However, Batt found the coffee Graham Young had made for him too strong and did not drink it all.
48.
Graham Young expressed concern for Biggs' condition, continually telephoning Biggs' wife and the hospital directly to make enquiries.
49.
Meanwhile, some of Graham Young's co-workers began to have suspicions about him.
50.
Smart noticed that Graham Young was never affected by the bug and suggested he might be a carrier of the "virus".
51.
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 Graham Young, who insisted that the symptoms displayed by victims pointed to this diagnosis.
52.
Graham Young quickly discovered that Young had a deep knowledge of poisons and toxicology, which prompted John Hadland, the firm's owner, to contact the police.
53.
Graham Young was arrested at the home of his aunt and uncle in Sheerness, Kent, on 20 November 1971.
54.
Graham Young's lodgings were covered in Nazi paraphernalia, including swastikas and photos of Nazi figures.
55.
Police discovered a detailed diary that Graham Young had kept, noting the doses he had administered, their effects and whether he was going to allow each person to live or die.
56.
Graham Young confessed to poisoning Egle, Biggs, Batt, Tilson and Trevor Sparkes, and said that he deliberately used different poisons in order to confuse doctors.
57.
Graham Young boasted of having committed the "perfect murder" by killing his stepmother, Molly Young.
58.
Graham Young spent twenty minutes explaining to the officers the effects that thallium has on the human body.
59.
Graham 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.
60.
Graham Young pleaded not guilty, which made it difficult to find a barrister willing to represent him; the trial date had to be postponed several times.
61.
Graham Young retracted his earlier confession to the police, claiming he had only made it in order to get some rest.
62.
The prosecution called 75 witnesses to give testimony; Graham Young himself was the only witness in his defence.
63.
Excerpts from Graham Young's diary were read out in court; he claimed the diary was a fantasy for a novel.
64.
Graham Young was found not guilty of administering poison to Sparkes and Buck, and was acquitted on all four counts of administering poison with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
65.
Graham Young's request was granted and he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to be served at Park Lane Hospital in Maghull.
66.
Graham Young died in his cell at HM Prison Parkhurst on the evening of 1 August 1990, one month before his 43rd birthday.
67.
Graham Young was cremated on 15 August 1990 and his ashes were scattered on the beach on 2 September 1990.
68.
On 29 June 1972, the day Graham Young's trial ended, Home Secretary Reginald Maudling gave a statement in the House of Commons about the issues raised by the case.
69.
Graham Young confirmed that more safeguards were to be introduced governing the release of mentally ill offenders.
70.
Graham Young claimed to be fascinated by Young and kept an online blog, similar to Young's diary, recording dosage and reactions.
71.
Graham Young was the subject of an episode of the ITV series Crime Story, entitled "Terrible Coldness".
72.
Graham Young later got his wish and his likeness appeared in the exhibit near those of Hawley Harvey Crippen and John Haigh.