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Graham Young was a psychopath Graham
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young was more dangerous in the Christ
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and no one could trust him didn't matter
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who his victims were whether it was
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family workmates school friends they
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were just guinea pigs to him and
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interesting poisons and fascination with
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the Nazis it was a murderous combination
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Graham Young was a man with a passion
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for poison but far from experimenting in
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laboratories he carried out his deadly
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trials on family friends and work
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colleagues murdering three of them how
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did this gifted chemist
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transform himself into the man they
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called the teacup poison
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[Music]
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I'm Fred Dynegy and I've been reporting
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on serious crime as a journalist and
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television reporter for more than 40
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years as the official biographer to the
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Kray twins I know that when it comes to
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crime the myth can take over from the
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reality of what actually happened I want
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to know what made Graham young so very
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different from other boys in the 1950s
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brought up in nice turn in London he
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said he'd suffered a troubled childhood
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this led him to embark on a campaign of
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poisoning unlike any other in British
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history for my investigation into Graham
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young I'm going to meet the people who
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came face-to-face with the poisoner and
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survived
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I'll also be speaking with the
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individuals who've examined the motives
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behind his murderous reign I always want
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to try and take a psychological
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perspective into what transforms a
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person into a killer who better to do
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that than top criminologist David Wilson
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well Graham young didn't have the
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easiest starts in life his mother died
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12 weeks after the birth which meant
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that Young's father fostered him out to
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an ant now even being four stood out a
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family member wasn't particularly a
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successful event in Young's background
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his aunt didn't particularly bond with
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him eventually his father remarries and
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the stepmother brings the family back
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together but young and the stepmother
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were almost at loggerheads immediately
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so this was a boy who didn't have the
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easiest of family circumstances seemed
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to bear some antagonism towards his
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stepmother and of course that was going
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to have deadly consequences in the
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future from a very early age young
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fostered interest in taboo subject
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matters he was fascinated with the Nazis
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he openly read Mein Kampf and spoke
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about the virtues of Hitler only 14
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years after the Second World War ended
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the story of Graham young is indeed
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fascinating
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Anthony Holden was a young reporter on
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the case and wrote a book called ecent
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Albans poisoner I'm hoping he can tell
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me what motivated this sadistic killer
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Graham Young who was born same here as
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me in 1947 was as a child clearly very
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very clever boy very interested in
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science and history and he kept
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voluminous notebooks and was really
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educating himself into being an
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extremely expert chemist it's just
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unfortunate that the chemistry was
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interested was poisonous as a child
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Graham Young received a present from his
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father Fred and stepmother Molly for
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passing his eleven plus it was a
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chemistry set nobody could have known
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that such a present would become a
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catalyst for Young's reign of terror and
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inspire him to learn about his first
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deadly poison and Timoney here we've got
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a boy who almost from the start is
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isolated is lonely is obsessed with
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poisons and crucially is obsessed with
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Nazism it was almost as if the writing
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was on the wall for Graham young from a
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very early age at school Graham young
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didn't make many friends the one he did
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make soon regretted becoming pals with
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the poisoner she had a girlfriend called
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Kris Williams who he really liked and
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they would have sandwiches together
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never have sandwiches as Graham young
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he'd slipped some antimony into his
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friends sandwich Williams would be off
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school for a few days with some mystery
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viral doctors would say it was a virus
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or a bug and he just make notes and
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although this was supposedly his best
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friend and indeed on one occasion
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Christopher had been off school for so
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long that young and he went off to
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London Zoo for the day and ever the
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young the helpful psychopath says to
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Christopher we'll look I know you've
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been ill I've managed to get some
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lemonade that should be able to help
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cure you
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in fact that lemonade simply included
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more antimony young psychopathy Nino and
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he simply wanted to be near people that
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he could do harm to and Christopher
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Williams was a very lucky young man in
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that he didn't have to go home with
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young every single night and eat food
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with them as Young's parents and sister
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did at home thirteen year old young was
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conducting a more long-term experiment
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upon his family so he put some poison in
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the sunday join not eat that bit himself
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watch what it did to his father his
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stepmother his sister and make notes
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so if stepmom as she did threw up after
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lunch he'd say to grams makes us throw
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up the family suspected the enthusiastic
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chemist was to blame for their sickness
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they believed he'd accidentally
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contaminated kitchen utensils he
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borrowed to carry out his school
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experiments little did they know their
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son was using them as human guinea pigs
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and that his experiments were inspired
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by Britain's most popular crime author
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in 1961 sir Graham would have been 14
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during his first bout of poisonings
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Agatha Christie published a novel called
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the pale horse in which the poison
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that's used is this poison thallium
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there's a very detailed technical quote
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in the Agatha Christie novel about
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thallium and its effects which clearly
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was to him like reading a textbook
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my investigations have revealed that
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antimony and thallium aren't chemicals
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that can be easily purchased I want to
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learn more about the poisons Jung was
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using and the impact they could have if
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they were used on a human a man who's
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agreed to help me is forensic scientist
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James Cleary and to me is a very hard
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bristle sort of metalloid and it can be
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very easily powdered so if you imagine
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you know most people think of mess it's
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very hard Sutton says you know it's
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gonna be hard to absorb into the body
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but if you put that into a very fine
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powder form it can be very easily and
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very readily absorbed into the body and
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once it's in the body
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the problem with heavy metals is that
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they cannot be destroyed or broken down
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and once a she ends up in the tissue can
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it become locked and it's actually very
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hard to get rid of it so James what
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would be the effects then on the human
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being on a body you end up with effects
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that might be distinguished as say a
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viral poisoning like influenza so you
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have like that tummy upset sort of
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headaches sweating fever that type of
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effect on an individual as time goes on
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one of the obvious effects is a hair
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loss so that's one big fact that you'll
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find with chronic poisoning but usually
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if it's an acute poisoning the effects
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are so strong and so quick that you sort
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of really die before you get the though
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the hair loss bouts of sickness had
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become increasingly more common in the
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young household and the teenage poisoner
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had set his sights on one family member
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in particular within his family he's
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particularly going to concentrate on
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Molly
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his stepmother this is the stepmother
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he's hated from the age of three this is
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the stepmother who destroys his toy
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aeroplane collection this is the
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stepmother whom he gives small doses of
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antimony to over a long period of time
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some 12 months so as to replicate the
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symptoms of gastroenteritis
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so Molly's constantly in bad health with
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stomach problems so we took enormous
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pleasure then in watching his stepmother
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in agony dying and of course you're
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right
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he's going to be sitting across the
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breakfast table the the lunch table the
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dinner table knowing full well that he's
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given his step
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malee a dose of antimony that's going to
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cause her major stomach problems he's
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going to take pleasure out of the power
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that he knows that she's going to have
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an unpleasant evening an unpleasant day
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it's the sense in which he can control
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this environment that's interesting to
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me because psychologically I think
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that's what he's been desperate for all
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his life he's been desperate to have
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power and control over circumstances
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that he feels he has no power and
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control over through poisoning his
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family he is able to establish that
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control the levels of sickness were
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becoming increasingly violent on the
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evening of April the 21st 1962 Graham's
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father Fred returned home to find his
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wife Molly writhing in agony in their
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garden comforting her Fred spider figure
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gazing down on them it was Graham he was
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motionless It was as if he was watching
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an experiment Molly was admitted to
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hospital but her symptoms mystified the
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doctors she told her staff that she just
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wanted to go home to make her family
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dinner they were her last words
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just hours later Molly young who is dead
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the post-mortem stated that her cause of
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death was due to a collapse bone at the
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top of her spinal column that she'd
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suffered a year earlier they had no
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reason to suspect antimony Graham Young
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had claimed his first life and got away
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with it he was now on the lookout for
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his next unsuspecting victim for his
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deadly experiments I'm Fred Dynegy and
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I'm looking into the crimes committed by
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the teacup poisoner Graham young I want
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to know whether he was a misguided
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genius or a calculated killer in 1962
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Graham young stepmother Molly had died
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in mysterious circumstances doctors
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believed her painful death was related
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to an old car injury she'd suffered the
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true cause was much closer to home she'd
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been poisoned by fourteen-year-old
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Graham young Graham young never showed
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any sign of remorse not just about
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killing his stepmother who he may have
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had son of objections to but his own
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father Fred was permanently damaged his
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liver etc by the poison that Graham fed
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to him his sister Winifred was damaged
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these were people who had been nice to
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him and unfriendly to him and paternal
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or sisterly the last people you'd think
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he would go after but they were just the
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nearest to hand with his stepmother dead
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Graham young began placing larger doses
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of antimony in his father's food and
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drink today antimony is only possible to
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access with a government license in the
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1960s it was mainly used in the
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manufacturing of batteries and solder
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the chemical was only available to
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pharmacists and industry experts even
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though he was only 14
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Graham young had no problem acquiring
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large amounts for his deadly experiments
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he was a boy who could clearly switch on
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the charm when the occasion demanded he
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was going into chemists asking to get
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acts
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to a certain number of poisons he would
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explain that away by explaining that he
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was doing experiments at school indeed
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on one occasion he would say that he was
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at University crucially he would always
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sign them at the poisons register that
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chemists demanded Gramm young could
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appear mature and competent and adult
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clearly masking his murderous intent
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behind gaining access to these poisons
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would it be a painful death essentially
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sting is destroying the nerve endings
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and one of the effects of that is that
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you end up with numbness in the fingers
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and of nose with antimony is the effect
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of walking on hot coals I think yes it
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would have been a very painful death
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months had passed since his stepmothers
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death his father Fred Young was still in
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mourning when he too began suffering
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severe bouts of sickness he was rushed
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to hospital where the doctors were keen
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to monitor his condition but they
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weren't the only ones as with his
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stepmother Graham had kept meticulous
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notes on his father's slow demise in
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hospital he sat quietly watching the
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effects
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the doctors suspected that fred was
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suffering from some form of poisoning
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they couldn't agree on whether arsenic
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or antimony was responsible when Graham
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began to lecture them on how to
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distinguish between the two
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his father demanded they get that boy
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away from me
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Fred Young had become suspicious of his
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son he wasn't the only one when he's at
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school
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he's useless in virtually every other
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subject except for chemistry the
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chemistry teacher becomes suspicious
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other family members are suspicious of
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this Kandi's continuing health problems
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in Young's family and so the chemistry
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teacher finds poisons in his desk calls
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the family doctor the family daughter
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calls in a psychiatrist the psychiatrist
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and the police interview young on the
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pretext that his knowledge of chemistry
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is so great perhaps he's already at
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university level young of course
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revealing the true nature of the
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psychopath the true nature of the serial
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killer is desperate for the attention
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and of course shows off his arrogance
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knows no bounds Young's bravado left the
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police in no doubt that he was
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responsible for the series of illnesses
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at home and school they arrested him for
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attempted murder
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the young hand even at that young age
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was only 14 had in his pocket what he
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called his exit dose he had a file of
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poison for himself in case this happened
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but unfortunately never had time to get
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to it well unfortunately for him and for
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his subsequent victims young confessed
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to poisoning his sister Winifred friend
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Kris Williams and his father Fred
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through the food milk and water at home
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his stepmothers body had been cremated
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so young could not be charged with her
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murder
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he was convicted of poisoning sundry
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people and the judge at the time decided
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because of his youth he was only 14 that
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the best thing was to send him to a
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mental hospital for the criminally
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insane
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at just 14 he was sentenced to serve 15
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years at Broadmoor becoming the youngest
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ever person to be committed to the
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psychiatric hospital since 1885 both
00:16:16
Ronnie Kray and the Yorkshire Ripper
00:16:18
Peter Sutcliffe have been inmates at
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Britain's most renowned psychiatric
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hospital one man who knows abroad
00:16:27
Moore's reputation is former criminal
00:16:29
Bobby Cummins Bobby now runs a charity
00:16:32
that helps ex-offenders called unlock
00:16:34
although he was never sent to Broadmoor
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he did serve time in later years with
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Graham young there was always that
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weariness if you had to Broadmoor label
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on you to type to go problem or those
00:16:46
who are working there ticket and don't
00:16:48
want to do our Jail so they want to get
00:16:50
into the mental health system where it's
00:16:52
Elijah and his does that are in Burrell
00:16:54
mortar are are completely off the road
00:16:57
completely bonkers that will kill with
00:17:00
Broadmoor gave young the opportunity to
00:17:03
further his learning he had access to
00:17:06
their library and despite being a
00:17:08
high-risk prisoner the authorities
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didn't restrict the types of books he
00:17:13
read he was in Baltimore which means he
00:17:15
didn't come under the prison system
00:17:16
where he was restricted on you know I'm
00:17:18
watched on my read he could go to the
00:17:20
library but most of the book so that God
00:17:23
would be reading will be on poisons and
00:17:25
toxicology that sort of thing you know
00:17:27
he wouldn't be reading mrs. beatings
00:17:29
cookery book and this and this it was
00:17:31
something to do with cannot put a poison
00:17:32
in the cake you know that sort of thing
00:17:34
you know
00:17:36
he's only 14 15 when he first goes to
00:17:39
Broadmoor the authorities at the time
00:17:41
wouldn't imagine that they were dealing
00:17:43
with the psychopath of the kind that
00:17:44
young was they would simply of see him
00:17:47
as a troubled boy even the strict
00:17:50
confines of the secure Hospital weren't
00:17:52
enough to deter young from trying to
00:17:54
achieve a lifelong ambition of infamy he
00:17:58
would occasionally put car pick or sugar
00:18:01
soap whatever unpleasant if not
00:18:05
poisonous semi poisonous materials were
00:18:06
to hand in an institution like that into
00:18:09
the tea urn that went around Broadmoor
00:18:12
and there were reports of illnesses
00:18:15
another patient John berridge died from
00:18:19
cyanide poisoning only months after
00:18:21
arriving at Broadmoor young claimed to
00:18:24
have produced the poison extracting it
00:18:26
from Laurel bushes on the hospital
00:18:28
grounds his confession was not taken
00:18:31
seriously and the death was recorded as
00:18:34
suicide so he continues to demonstrate
00:18:37
this type of behavior but crucially he
00:18:41
then recognizes here's this ability to
00:18:44
turn the charm on again to appear mature
00:18:46
to appear adult he crucially recognizes
00:18:49
that if he ever wants to get aren't
00:18:52
abroad more he's got to convince the
00:18:54
authorities dr. odwin his personal
00:18:56
psychiatrist that he's safe to release
00:18:59
and so young gradually changes that
00:19:02
behavior and appears as the model
00:19:04
prisoner the model patient in the 1960's
00:19:08
Broadmoor was undergoing the transition
00:19:10
from an old-style penal institution to a
00:19:13
modern psychiatric hospital the man in
00:19:16
charge of the poisonous rehabilitation
00:19:19
was dr. Edgar Hudd Whitman he was
00:19:21
responsible for determining just how
00:19:24
dangerous Young was and whether he
00:19:26
should be released back into the
00:19:28
community there's an arrogance with
00:19:30
psychiatrists they always think they're
00:19:32
inside your mind I once said a
00:19:33
psychiatrist say to me how do I get
00:19:35
inside of prisoners mind and I said make
00:19:37
sure he don't get in your mind if you
00:19:39
hold a case to my release I'm not going
00:19:42
to tell you the truth I'm going to tell
00:19:44
you what benefits mate
00:19:45
professor David Wilson is a former
00:19:47
prison governor he's been responsible
00:19:49
for some of Britain's toughest prisoners
00:19:52
you've had a lot of experience as a
00:19:54
prison governor is it possible for
00:19:56
prisoners for inmates to to fall to con
00:19:59
doctors and psychiatrists yes of course
00:20:02
it's possible because doctors and
00:20:04
psychiatrists and prison governors are
00:20:06
human humans make mistakes therefore
00:20:09
you've got to be very careful indeed
00:20:12
about the decision-making process that's
00:20:15
going to put somebody who's committed
00:20:16
very grave offenses back into the
00:20:19
community young to me must have been so
00:20:23
clearly a malevolent presence malevolent
00:20:26
force that it does surprise me that a
00:20:28
sophisticated Socotra in an institution
00:20:32
like that full of baddies could be
00:20:34
persuaded by this young boy but Graham
00:20:36
was very clever and he was probably
00:20:38
quite a good actor as well eight years
00:20:41
into his sentence Young had seemingly
00:20:44
transform from a sadistic poisoner into
00:20:47
a remorseful young man dr. Edwin
00:20:50
believed he was making good progress
00:20:52
I've been did a report to named
00:20:56
secretary whose responsibility it was
00:20:58
Reginald maudling at that time saying
00:21:01
this boy still only just 20 early
00:21:04
twenties they reckoned once you've been
00:21:07
in there 10 years you're
00:21:08
institutionalized you're never gonna be
00:21:10
able to cope with the outside world
00:21:11
again in 1970 Graham young had served
00:21:15
eight years for poisoning his father dr.
00:21:18
Edwin wrote to the Board of Governors
00:21:20
and told them he believed Graham young
00:21:22
was fit to return to society and was
00:21:25
granted home visits he thought we'll
00:21:28
take one experiment and he said to
00:21:30
Graham I'm going to let you out for a
00:21:33
week you can go stay with your sister
00:21:35
Winifred and see how it goes see how you
00:21:38
cope with the outside world and he wrote
00:21:41
her a letter that subsequently became
00:21:43
famous because he said guess what your
00:21:46
friendly neighborhood Frankenstein is
00:21:49
coming to stay with you next week
00:21:50
and he did go and stay with him for a
00:21:52
week she had a husband a small child and
00:21:55
a dog
00:21:56
who all of whom you'd think in the
00:21:57
context of this story might have a
00:22:00
little strychnine in the dog food but no
00:22:02
gram knew that this was his key to
00:22:03
getting out and behaved like a model
00:22:06
patient there are several parts of dr.
00:22:09
Edwin's behavior in releasing young that
00:22:13
I find extraordinary but I would also
00:22:15
say there's a context Young has gone to
00:22:18
Broadmoor not as a convicted murderer
00:22:20
he's gone to Broadmoor as a 14 year old
00:22:24
boy who attempted to poison his father
00:22:27
his sister and a school friend now
00:22:29
that's a very different set of
00:22:31
criminogenic factors from somebody who
00:22:35
had been sent to prison for murder so I
00:22:38
think dr. odwin is trying to help this
00:22:40
boy back into the community by 1971
00:22:46
Graham young walked out of the gates of
00:22:48
Broadmoor a rehabilitated man or that's
00:22:52
what he made the authorities believe I'm
00:22:59
Fred Danish and I'm investigating the
00:23:01
case of Graham young the teacup poisoner
00:23:04
in 1971 he was freed from Broadmoor
00:23:08
where he'd served eight and a half years
00:23:10
for poisoning his father as far as the
00:23:13
authorities were concerned he was cured
00:23:16
Graham young was only 23 and had made it
00:23:20
clear he wanted to start a new life
00:23:23
he set out to find a job one where he
00:23:26
could put his chemistry skills to good
00:23:28
use
00:23:29
he was trained as a store man by the
00:23:32
Broadmoor release service the next
00:23:35
astonishing irony of this story is the
00:23:38
poison that Graham was by now interested
00:23:40
in was called thallium which is a heavy
00:23:42
metal poison and its main industrial
00:23:45
uses in in photography there are two
00:23:48
companies in this country that stock
00:23:52
thallium in the manufacturer
00:23:54
manufacturer photographic lenses and the
00:23:56
Broadmoor placement service found gray
00:23:58
meowing a job in one of these two
00:24:00
factories the political headlands
00:24:03
laboratories in a little village called
00:24:05
Bovington just as
00:24:06
hemel hempstead a government training
00:24:08
scheme provided Graham young with a
00:24:11
glowing reference pad --lens employed
00:24:14
almost a hundred people antony Odom was
00:24:17
one of them back in the 1970s he
00:24:20
remembers Graham young this is the first
00:24:23
time he's ever agreed to speak about him
00:24:26
and the devastation
00:24:27
he caused what do you remember then of
00:24:30
of Graham young well when Graham arrived
00:24:34
it was understood that he come from some
00:24:37
sort of rehabilitation as a result of a
00:24:40
mental breakdown he didn't strike one as
00:24:44
being exceptional he was very dark
00:24:46
somewhat glum very articulate clearly
00:24:50
very intelligent and he obviously
00:24:56
conveyed through one means or another
00:24:58
his knowledge of chemistry and we those
00:25:01
that were curious asked him what he'd
00:25:02
been and what he'd done in the past and
00:25:04
he swore I was actually a failed
00:25:06
chemistry student or a failed pharmacist
00:25:09
so when those terms any sort of
00:25:12
medically related or chemistry terms
00:25:14
were used it didn't come as a great
00:25:16
surprise because that's what we believed
00:25:19
him to have been I do remember
00:25:21
colleagues saying to me one day as we
00:25:25
were discussing him generally just don't
00:25:27
get him on the subject of Hitler and the
00:25:29
Nazis because it's a favorite topic and
00:25:33
he'll be off on one basically and it's
00:25:36
no we did smile about it and say yes
00:25:38
okay well care of that young thought his
00:25:41
job would entail working with the deadly
00:25:43
chemical thallium to his disappointment
00:25:46
it wasn't kept on site once used as a
00:25:50
rat poison thallium should have been
00:25:52
impossible to purchase but again Jung
00:25:55
persuaded a chemist to provide him with
00:25:57
large quantities of the poisonous metal
00:26:01
valium is a very soft malleable metal
00:26:04
and actually that metal is actually very
00:26:07
easily and readily dissolved in water
00:26:08
and it's it's odorless colorless and
00:26:11
tasteless which means that if you had it
00:26:13
in a drink you wouldn't even suspect it
00:26:15
was there
00:26:16
I am young hadn't changed and now had
00:26:19
new friends to target people who had
00:26:23
taking time off either 1 or 2 days or
00:26:25
whatever and then things started to get
00:26:27
more serious just within a very small
00:26:30
group of people but there was just a few
00:26:33
that thought hmm not a nice thing not a
00:26:36
nice complaint there was a particular
00:26:38
occasion I remember when I was in one of
00:26:40
the buildings and looking out and
00:26:41
somebody came rushing out of the stores
00:26:43
and was violently ill on the grass
00:26:46
outside which looking back on it well at
00:26:51
the time we thought something very
00:26:52
extraordinary going on there Bob
00:26:54
Eagle was to become Young's first victim
00:26:57
at had --lens
00:26:58
he complained of chronic stomach pains
00:27:00
and a numbing sensation in his body over
00:27:03
a period of 2 months Bob Eagle was
00:27:05
regularly admitted to hospital each time
00:27:09
doctors failed to diagnose his problem
00:27:11
and he returned to work where he
00:27:13
confided his ailments to his colleague
00:27:16
Graham young Bob Eagle was very ill I
00:27:19
think it was probably the thallium had a
00:27:21
very horrible effect on him in terms of
00:27:24
the sensitivity of his skin he was
00:27:27
giving him violent hallucinations
00:27:30
he was effect having nightmares out of
00:27:34
hell with this Balian poisoning is not a
00:27:36
pleasant way to die and of course as we
00:27:39
would later discover Saddam Hussein uses
00:27:42
exactly the same time for poison when
00:27:45
he's trying to bump off political
00:27:47
opponents in Iraq
00:27:50
Agatha Christie says it's the sort of
00:27:52
the poisonous drug of choice that it is
00:27:54
so hard to detect it in terms of
00:27:56
suspicion you wouldn't suspect it as
00:27:58
being you know someone's suffering from
00:27:59
thallium poisoning in normal day-to-day
00:28:01
Satta life and then once it actually you
00:28:03
then start suffering these symptoms and
00:28:05
the ease that of illnesses and diarrhea
00:28:06
and upset stomach
00:28:07
it's very hard to be very prescriptive
00:28:09
in terms of knowing exactly what the
00:28:11
cause of it was and I'm sure most
00:28:13
medical doctors they would be quite hard
00:28:14
pushed away to him exactly what the
00:28:16
cause was until it got to the stage
00:28:17
where it's too late there is actually
00:28:21
something with valium called Prussian
00:28:23
blue that you can use as a bit of an
00:28:24
antidote and it binds with the the
00:28:26
thallium stop it going into the soft
00:28:27
tissue but once it does go into the
00:28:29
tissue then it essentially becomes
00:28:30
locked it essentially becomes a by
00:28:32
accumulator it kind of sticks into your
00:28:33
tissue and very hard to remove and I
00:28:36
think at that stage once you're at that
00:28:37
level of sort of poisoning then there's
00:28:40
very little you can do about an English
00:28:42
you just waiting to die
00:28:43
Bob Eagles condition worsened and he
00:28:46
returned to hospital every treatment
00:28:48
they tried was unsuccessful and his
00:28:51
condition grew worse by the day eight
00:28:54
days after being admitted Bob Eagle died
00:28:59
Bob Eagles death was recorded as
00:29:02
bronchopneumonia with guillain-barre a
00:29:04
polyneuritis a rare disease of the
00:29:07
immune system poison wasn't suspected
00:29:10
Bob Eagle was cremated and in fact it
00:29:15
was Graham who went around to see the
00:29:16
widow and explained to her that
00:29:18
cremation was probably the best option
00:29:21
these days and as fate would have it
00:29:23
hadlen the managing director chose
00:29:26
Graham young to accompany him to the
00:29:28
funeral on behalf of the company because
00:29:31
he'd been Bobby Hill's friend so Graham
00:29:33
sat in the crematorium watching the
00:29:36
evidence of his crime literally go up in
00:29:40
smoke as no one suspected Young was the
00:29:43
culprit he was free to continue his
00:29:45
reign of poisoning he targeted at least
00:29:48
10 of his nearest colleagues each was
00:29:51
struck down with the same mysterious
00:29:53
symptoms and had to spend time off work
00:29:56
only two months after Bob Eagles murder
00:29:59
the poisoner turned his attention
00:30:02
towards Fred Biggs
00:30:05
Fred begs the store manager had worked
00:30:08
at Hanlan's for four years he made the
00:30:11
fatal mistake of befriending young he
00:30:13
too began to suffer chronic pain and
00:30:15
sickness on the 19th of November 1971
00:30:19
Fred Biggs became the second person to
00:30:22
die of what the staff had had --lens
00:30:24
believed to be a mysterious bug why he
00:30:27
chooses particular targets doesn't seem
00:30:30
to me to be particularly clear for
00:30:33
example he targeted one man whom he knew
00:30:35
was going to leave the job in fact young
00:30:38
got the job because this chap was going
00:30:40
to work in another Factory
00:30:42
so sometimes his motivation isn't clear
00:30:44
because at the end of the day Fred we're
00:30:46
dealing with a psychopath you know they
00:30:48
don't think rationally sometimes but if
00:30:50
we see the bulk of his targets as being
00:30:52
his stepmother his father his sister his
00:30:56
school friend it's people who are close
00:30:58
to him people over whom he would like
00:31:00
power and control power and control that
00:31:03
I think he felt had been denied to him
00:31:06
Grahame young made meticulous notes
00:31:09
detailing the effects that the poison
00:31:12
had upon his victims I think it's quite
00:31:15
sick as he's actually still working with
00:31:17
them you know their colleague and unit
00:31:19
working with them and presumably talking
00:31:20
about sort of things as people do and
00:31:21
and observing them in getting ill and
00:31:23
and continuing to dose them up and
00:31:25
having that observational chat element I
00:31:28
think is the bit that I find hard to
00:31:29
understand it's the cold level of
00:31:31
removal of dosing him up and then just
00:31:33
sitting back and watching them suffer
00:31:34
the management at had lands would
00:31:36
impelled to call in a doctor to
00:31:38
investigate the cause of the two deaths
00:31:41
and the serious illness they also wanted
00:31:44
to reassure the work force so the doctor
00:31:48
went on having described his business of
00:31:51
thee and now as this isn't so forth
00:31:53
they've been doing and he came to the
00:31:56
conclusion that we were probably
00:31:58
suffering from some sort of hybrid flu
00:32:00
virus and that these things were very
00:32:05
aggressive and that was probably what
00:32:08
the situation was in amongst the concern
00:32:11
staff one man stood out from the
00:32:14
route Graham young then piped up and
00:32:16
started asking questions
00:32:17
and they were very technical terms that
00:32:22
he was using I suppose in a sense we
00:32:24
weren't so surprised because of this
00:32:28
past experience that we thought he had
00:32:30
here's the arrogant psychopath
00:32:33
once again emerging to the fore as he
00:32:36
had done when the psychiatrist comes
00:32:38
into school to interview him Young says
00:32:42
too much he reveals this knowledge of
00:32:45
poisons indeed he suggests to the
00:32:47
authorities
00:32:48
have you considered Thalian poisoning
00:32:51
and it's that over eagerness to be part
00:32:54
of the story to be at the forefront of
00:32:56
what's happening that leads to young
00:32:58
being arrested in November 1971 the
00:33:02
police were called in to investigate
00:33:04
young a check of his criminal record
00:33:07
revealed his past conviction as a
00:33:10
poisoner when the police raided Graham
00:33:12
Young's room they found the walls
00:33:14
decorated with Nazi artifacts each
00:33:17
surface filled with an array of
00:33:20
chemicals more importantly they
00:33:22
discovered his handwritten diary
00:33:24
detailing every dose of poison he'd
00:33:27
administered to his unsuspecting victims
00:33:30
and the impact it had on them new tests
00:33:33
were carried out on the internal organs
00:33:35
of Fred Biggs and the ashes of Bob Eagle
00:33:38
the results were shocking it was
00:33:41
estimated that over time Biggs had
00:33:44
ingested more than 100 grams of phalerum
00:33:47
just one gram could be fatal you know we
00:33:51
were a close group very trusting and
00:33:53
understanding of each other and suddenly
00:33:55
you have this situation where somebody
00:33:58
is being has been very very malicious
00:34:02
within a group like that it's it has a
00:34:06
pretty profound effect on on everybody
00:34:09
but horror really I suppose it's the
00:34:12
only way you can describe it less than a
00:34:14
year after leaving Broadmoor Graham
00:34:17
Young was really at the factory he'd
00:34:20
claimed two lives and made many others
00:34:23
serious
00:34:23
the ill his scientific abilities knew no
00:34:27
bounds his new laboratory was now to be
00:34:30
Britain's toughest prison I'm Fred dine
00:34:35
age and I'm examining the life of Graham
00:34:38
young VT poisoner his knowledge of
00:34:41
poisons were so advanced many believed
00:34:44
he could have become one of Britain's
00:34:46
leading experts in this field instead
00:34:50
however he chose to devote his talents
00:34:53
to killing at least three people and
00:34:55
poisoning many others in 1972 Young had
00:35:01
been arrested for killing his work
00:35:03
colleagues
00:35:04
Fred Biggs and Bob Eagle on the 19th of
00:35:07
June Graham Young's trial began instant
00:35:10
Albans he pleaded not guilty to the
00:35:12
charges against him Anthony Holden was
00:35:16
sent to cover the story for the local
00:35:18
paper and his articles caught the
00:35:21
attention of the poisoner it was the
00:35:23
first time I laid eyes on him and it was
00:35:25
a pretty scary sight he was in court his
00:35:29
demeanor was very arrogant detached like
00:35:34
one of those dictators who doesn't
00:35:35
recognize the court you know he sent me
00:35:39
notes across the court that said can you
00:35:43
get make me so famous that I wind up in
00:35:46
the chamber of horrors at Madame
00:35:48
Tussauds I want to be to go down in
00:35:50
history as a really famous murderer the
00:35:52
defense called just one witness the
00:35:55
accused Graham young he remained cool
00:35:58
under questioning his arrogance never
00:36:01
wavered he disagreed with the medical
00:36:03
evidence presented by the prosecution
00:36:05
young insisted the deaths were due to a
00:36:08
virus the irony of the whole trial was
00:36:11
that we journalists knew about poisoning
00:36:15
his family when he was a teenager eight
00:36:18
years in Broadmoor obviously the jury
00:36:21
and did not know about that because
00:36:24
you're not allowed to raise previous
00:36:25
convictions during a trial and we would
00:36:27
often be in the canteen drinking a cup
00:36:29
of tea with the jury it was so tempting
00:36:33
in that absurd way to go across and say
00:36:35
did you know he's done it
00:36:36
or because you could never tell during a
00:36:38
trial what impression the evidence is
00:36:41
making on the jury the prosecution's key
00:36:44
evidence was Young's diary he kept a
00:36:47
record of every measure of poison he
00:36:49
dispensed to his co-workers at the
00:36:51
factory his study of Fred Biggs was
00:36:56
shocking
00:36:56
I have administered a fatal dose of the
00:36:59
special compound he is surviving too
00:37:02
long for my peace of mind it took only a
00:37:06
short amount of time for the jury to
00:37:09
reach its verdict young was found guilty
00:37:13
and sentenced to life imprisonment for
00:37:16
each murder asked if he felt remorse for
00:37:19
his actions Young said what I feel is
00:37:24
the emptiness of my soul not until after
00:37:28
the verdict after they found him guilty
00:37:29
it was revealed that he'd done this
00:37:32
before and then of course there was this
00:37:34
huge national scandal he should never be
00:37:39
let out of Broadmoor in the first place
00:37:41
I accept that he manipulated and was
00:37:44
clever there the management was
00:37:46
certainly not made aware of his complete
00:37:49
background had they been then I think
00:37:52
they would have picked up the situation
00:37:53
much quicker and realized that there was
00:37:56
something amiss and thirdly he should
00:37:59
never have had access to the chemicals
00:38:01
that he did Young's ability to access
00:38:04
deadly poison and Broadmoor failure to
00:38:07
warn his employers with serious issues
00:38:10
that needed to be addressed if such a
00:38:12
tragedy
00:38:13
was to be avoided again crucially no
00:38:16
we'd have something called the mapa
00:38:18
arrangements the multi-agency public
00:38:21
protection arrangements which follow the
00:38:24
career of our newly released prisoner
00:38:26
who's regarded as still potentially
00:38:28
dangerous who follow his career in the
00:38:30
community checking out on a regular
00:38:33
basis that he isn't engaging in risky
00:38:35
behavior risky behavior that would do
00:38:37
other people harm the jury raised
00:38:40
concerns in their summary about Young's
00:38:43
ability to get hold of deadly poisons so
00:38:46
easily
00:38:48
1972 is when the poisons that changed in
00:38:51
terms of access to these type of many
00:38:53
types of poisons including heavy metals
00:38:55
and is interesting to note that the the
00:38:57
jury on the on the second trial from him
00:38:59
poisoning his coworkers they actually
00:39:01
fed back to the court saying that one
00:39:02
issue they had was the access to these
00:39:04
poisons that it was just so easy enough
00:39:06
see that they felt it should change and
00:39:08
within a few months after that the the
00:39:11
the poisons act changed and that men
00:39:13
that is actually much harder get hold of
00:39:14
these poisons Young's previous
00:39:16
conviction had sent him to Broadmoor
00:39:19
psychiatric hospital this time he was
00:39:22
sent to Parker's prison on the Isle of
00:39:24
Wight home to some of Britain's
00:39:26
toughest criminals he decides he doesn't
00:39:29
want to go back to Broadmoor but would
00:39:33
rather go into the mainstream penal
00:39:35
estate so he's locked up in Parkhurst
00:39:37
where guests would be friends him Ian
00:39:40
Brady one of the Morris murderers Brady
00:39:42
also somebody who is obsessed with
00:39:46
Nazism and they have an immediate
00:39:48
connection with each other because both
00:39:50
of this fascination for Hitler for the
00:39:53
Third Reich and for Nazi insignia but
00:39:56
interestingly Brady describes him as
00:39:59
looking like a young Joseph Goebbels
00:40:01
and so here we've got this direct link
00:40:03
back into this boyhood obsession poison
00:40:07
and Nazis still emerging all these years
00:40:11
later in Parkhurst
00:40:14
whereas Brady was happy to spend time
00:40:17
with the poisoner the majority of
00:40:19
prisoners weren't Bobby Cummins was one
00:40:22
of 500 inmates who avoided him Bobby
00:40:28
you've you've actually met him
00:40:30
what sort of bloke was he well let's put
00:40:32
it this way Fred you know we're sitting
00:40:34
here having a cup of sea
00:40:35
I think we'd not be picking up those
00:40:36
cups if we had gram in their company no
00:40:38
really poor dee I wouldn't even say you
00:40:41
drink it first to see whether it was all
00:40:43
right because his chances are he would
00:40:45
know exactly how much to drink the water
00:40:47
know him and I'll drink he'd kill me no
00:40:49
no not in a million years I wouldn't
00:40:51
even sit on the table with him in case
00:40:53
he dusted it with something that's
00:40:54
they're dangerous we're talking about
00:40:55
you know as I said he'd make the crazy
00:40:58
look like any year bad men you know look
00:41:00
like amateurs free fighters this guy was
00:41:02
deadly you're never tempted to go and
00:41:05
see him inside
00:41:07
not really no in retrospect I'm quite
00:41:09
surprised because I ministers people
00:41:12
I've written a book about this guy it
00:41:14
would have been interesting to have
00:41:15
talked to him to have met him asked him
00:41:18
questions about things I don't know were
00:41:20
unresolved but I just thought it would
00:41:22
have been madness because one would have
00:41:24
had a cup of tea when would have had
00:41:25
some sort of I suppose you could have
00:41:28
turned it down but that would have been
00:41:29
impolite not a man to be employed it
00:41:33
just thought no this is not a good idea
00:41:35
go and have a cup of tea with him he was
00:41:37
doing say nobody in prison like carrying
00:41:39
a weapon or smuggling some again and I
00:41:40
say what's the risk of he was very high
00:41:42
risk there so I will it's about as risky
00:41:44
as having Graham Young on your team oh
00:41:46
you know did God protect that bad the
00:41:49
you know in prison you know the God
00:41:52
Squad would always meet up with the most
00:41:53
horrific killers like the Bradys of this
00:41:55
world and all that but no one invited
00:41:57
Graham young to the vicar's tape I you
00:41:59
know either neighbor and that crazy the
00:42:01
guy was that dangerous even prison
00:42:03
officers didn't feel safe with him
00:42:05
everyone was too scared to approach the
00:42:08
convicted poisoner he became completely
00:42:11
isolated on the 1st of August 1990
00:42:15
Graham Young was found dead in his cell
00:42:18
aged just 42 the official cause of death
00:42:21
was heart failure
00:42:23
but he had no history of a hard
00:42:26
condition and the mystery of Graham
00:42:29
Young's death murder suicide natural
00:42:32
causes some prison officer said you know
00:42:37
prisoners had him and done him and and
00:42:39
it's a possibility prisoners for where
00:42:41
we don't feel safer then right let's
00:42:43
take away this freight because they live
00:42:44
with it for years but having said that
00:42:46
there was prison who said prison office
00:42:48
has done it because they actually would
00:42:50
is going it and and they weren't safe
00:42:52
however he could have dr. day at ease I
00:42:53
think he may have committed suicide he
00:42:56
was somebody who recognized that the
00:42:58
rest of his life was going to be spent
00:43:00
behind bars and I felt took the ultimate
00:43:04
form of power and control over his own
00:43:06
life by gaining access to whatever
00:43:08
poison he would be able to find poisons
00:43:11
that he would be able to kill himself
00:43:13
with prior to his death
00:43:16
Graham Young had been approached by
00:43:18
cosmetic companies Kinsey utilized his
00:43:20
understanding of chemicals to enhance
00:43:23
their products so just how different
00:43:26
could his life have been had he placed
00:43:28
his knowledge of poison to more
00:43:30
productive use coming those people
00:43:33
manufacturing these herbal lipsticks and
00:43:35
all that nor any young you know what
00:43:37
keeps the collar on better what you know
00:43:39
and what plants what I use so you know
00:43:41
in his own way he was de kiddy on the
00:43:43
Block when it comes to the poison going
00:43:45
the only thing was he was totally
00:43:47
immoral at one point he applied for a
00:43:50
job with the police forensic science
00:43:52
laboratory he probably could have been a
00:43:54
very good force for scientific
00:43:57
investigation on the right side of the
00:43:59
law but no he had this deadness to
00:44:03
normal human interaction he had no
00:44:07
compunction no remorse no guilt about
00:44:10
inflicting terrible pain and in some
00:44:14
cases death
00:44:19
I suppose it makes you think perhaps a
00:44:23
little bit more cautiously about
00:44:24
individuals and you learn them for more
00:44:25
about life and the fact that somebody
00:44:28
isn't necessarily all they seem and if
00:44:32
they're quiet and relatively harmless
00:44:35
perhaps they're not the accounts that
00:44:39
I've heard from the people who met
00:44:41
Graham young and have studied his story
00:44:43
suggests to me that although he may have
00:44:46
been highly intelligence he was at heart
00:44:49
completely insane who knows what he
00:44:52
could have achieved if his talents for
00:44:54
toxicology had been recognized and
00:44:56
developed what we do know is that he
00:44:59
placed no value on human life and saw
00:45:03
his existence as one big experiment
00:45:07
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