Chilling diary of Hitler-obsessed teen serial killer who murdered stepmum with a trifle… before poisoning HUNDREDS more

WHEN a mystery illness swept through a small Hertfordshire firm causing violent vomiting, diarrhoea, partial paralysis and, in one case, death, it was put down to a “bug” in the water supply.

But the truth was much more sinister – the workers were the unwitting “guinea pigs” of serial poisoner Graham Young, who was serving them daily doses of death in cups of tea.

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It was only when a second man died in agony in November 1971 that the shocking truth began to unravel.

Horrified colleagues at John Hadland Laboratories discovered their 24-year-old storeman had been released from Broadmoor after serving just eight years for poisoning his entire family – aged 14 – including murdering his stepmother with a poisoned trifle.

Young’s bedsit was found to be rammed with Nazi memorabilia and literature on Hitler, as well as an arsenal of chemicals.

A chilling diary found under the bed recorded his “experiments” as he laced his co-workers’ brews with thallium and the metal compound antimony and detailed their horrific symptoms, which gave him “sexual pleasure”.

One entry, referring to co-worker Fred Biggs, read: “F is now seriously ill. He is likely to die in a few days.

“It will be a merciful release for him, as if he survives he would be permanently impaired. Even if the blindness was reversible, organic brain disease would render him a husk. It is better that he should die.”

The 56-year-old did die a slow and painful death on November 19, 1971 – leading to Young’s arrest and trial for murder.   

Now the twisted case of the youngest ever serial poisoner is re-examined in Murder in a Teacup, streaming on Amazon Prime.

It features interviews with former colleagues, school friends and the officers who worked on the case, as well as extracts from Young’s dairy.

Born in Neasden, North London, Young lost his mum when he was a toddler and was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, while his older sister Winifred was taken in by their grandmother. 

A troubled child, who felt he had been pushed out of his family, he wet the bed until he was ten and would rock himself to sleep so violently neighbours complained of the noise.

But he was also fiercely intelligent, “incessantly” studying books on pharmacology and toxicology in his early teens, and became fascinated by scientific experiments.

After his father remarried the family were reunited, but Young’s relationship with stepmum Molly was described by historian Dr Katherine Watson as “fraught”.

“He complained to friends that she treated him very badly, destroyed his belongings without good reason, locked him out of the house to prevent him from snacking whilst his father was out at work,” she says.

It became apparent that it was actually Hitler that he was obsessed with

Les Frank, school pal

School pal Les Frank remembers gelling with Young because they were “a bit different to the other kids”.

“He started wearing rather peculiar clothes,” he says. “He used to start coming in a black overcoat that progressed to black leather gloves and then boots.

“It became apparent that it was actually Hitler that he was obsessed with.”

He adds that Young carried a copy of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf in his pocket at all times.

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The pair often conducted scientific experiments with a chemistry set, and Les remembers Young injecting neighbours’ sunflowers with chemicals to make them wilt.

But he soon turned his attention to his school pals, offering them fairy cakes laced with the toxic metal antimony.

Les remembers asking his pal for a cake one day, adding: “In a sinister voice, he said, ‘Not for you.’ He was obviously dishing out poison.”

Classmate Christopher Williams was not so lucky, becoming the first of Young’s human guinea pigs.

He was fed “two or three grains” of antimony on biscuits and cakes – with one gram equalling 65ml – and was “sick after taking it”, according to Young.

Family targets

When Christopher became so ill that he was off school, Young’s obsession moved closer to home.

“I started experimenting at home, putting sometimes one, sometimes three grains on prepared foods, which my mother, father and sister ate,” Young said. 

“I must’ve eaten some of this poisoned food occasionally because I became sick as well.

“I know after eating these prepared foods, my family were all sick. My mother went to the doctor about her sickness.”

I started experimenting at home, putting sometimes one, sometimes three grains on prepared foods, which my mother, father and sister ate. I must’ve eaten some of this poisoned food occasionally because I became sick as well

Graham Young

He laced Winifred’s drink with deadly nightshade, causing her to hallucinate.  

Criminologist Dr Gemma Birkin tells the documentary poisoners like to watch the effects”.

“Part of the pleasure is to actually see how the poison that they have administered is causing pain to the particular victim,” she adds.

Stepmum Molly, targeted with antimony on a daily basis, became so ill with vomiting and diarrhoea that she lost 4st, her hair fell out, and she became so weak she had to leave work.

Young effectively became her nurse, which Gemma says is true to form for poisoners: “They become this kind of caring personality. It’s all part of this control, getting pleasure really from watching someone in such pain.”

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He brought her food and tea laced with poison before finally administering the fatal dose in a trifle on Easter Saturday in 1962.

Her death was attributed to an earlier traffic accident that left her with head and neck injuries, but when Young’s dad Fred was hospitalised with symptoms of poisoning, a science teacher at his school became suspicious and voiced his concerns to police.

After Young’s arrest on suspicion of poisoning his sister, father and pal Chris, vials of thallium and antimony were found in his possession.

He confessed and revealed a huge stash of chemicals hidden in a local hut, a hedge, and his room.

Young was sentenced to 15 years in the secure mental institution Broadmoor – the youngest inmate since 1885.

Visited by his sister and aunt, he confessed to killing Molly with 20mg of thallium – a heavy metal that attacks the nerves, causing burning pain, paralysis and eventually death.

Killing vow

Even in Broadmoor, it seems Young continued his killing spree.

Inmate John Berridge died of cyanide poisoning shortly after Young arrived.

While it was ruled a suicide, he was heard to boast how he could extract the lethal chemical from the many laurel bushes surrounding the hospital grounds.

I suppose I’d ceased to see them as people, or more correctly, a part of me had. They became guinea pigs

Graham Young

He also targetted another inmate after becoming annoyed by his snoring.

Yet in 1971, despite Young telling a nurse he would “kill one person for every year” he was inside, doctors ruled he was fit to be released.

Bosses at John Hadland, a photo equipment manufacturer in Bovington, Herts, were unaware of his sinister past when he applied for the trainee store worker role.

The gap in his CV, he explained, was down to psychological problems caused by the death of his mother “in very tragic circumstances” when he was in his teens, causing a “mental breakdown”.

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The family firm provided meals for its 70 employees and had a tea lady who would bring refreshments at 11am and 3pm every day.

Young would often volunteer to fetch the drinks – and soon colleagues began to fall ill.

“There was an outbreak of illness and no one thought anything of it, putting it down to flu,” says former co-worker Anthony Odhams.

“I happened to look out and saw someone come through the storeroom doors very, very fast and then was very violently ill on the grass outside.

“It was traumatic to say the least. Nobody knew what it was, but it started to be a cause for concern and puzzlement, too.”

Bogus bug

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The illness became so prevalent it was thought a virus or bacteria in the water – dubbed the Bovington Bug –  was causing it. 

When 59-year-old Bob Egle, a Dunkirk veteran, died in July 1971, it was assumed he’d fallen victim to the bug.

Two other employees, Jethro Batt and David Tilson, were poisoned with thallium in October the same year.

Jethro’s hair fell out and he was admitted to hospital with stomach and chest pains, which he said felt like someone was wearing “a metal glove and got hold of my insides and was squeezing and twisting them.”

I’ve administered a fatal dose of the ‘special compound’ to him and anticipate reports of the illness on Monday, Nov 2nd. He should die within a week

Graham Young

He also suffered hallucinations and was in so much pain he begged his wife to give him a gun to shoot himself.

Young wrote in his diary: “J has developed severe alopecia. The hospital is rechecking his tests… The situation is fraught with danger and I shall have to watch the situation extremely closely.

“If it seems inevitable that I shall be detected then I shall have to destroy myself. There is no alternative.”

David was also hospitalised with numb legs, breathing difficulties and chest pains, but survived because the tea Young gave him was too sweet, so he didn’t finish it. 

Young wrote: “Hospital advanced the view that D’s illness may be due  to some kind of poisoning. That’s a very dangerous path for them to explore.”

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Later that month he poisoned 56-year-old Fred Biggs, writing: “I’ve administered a fatal dose of the ‘special compound’ to him and anticipate reports of the illness on Monday, Nov 2nd. He should die within a week.”

‘No remorse’

At a meeting, when the company doctor told worried workers they were working through possible explanations for outbreaks, Young couldn’t resist showing off his knowledge.

He asked whether “the men who’ve been very ill could be suffering from thallium poisoning?”

It was the red flag the baffled firm needed. Police were called in that night and Young was arrested.

In interviews he showed no remorse, telling cops he wanted the trial to “make me so famous that I wind up in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds. I want to go down in history as a really famous murderer”.

In June 1972, Young was jailed for life for two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. He died of a heart attack in prison in August 1990, at 42. 

When asked his motive, Young told police: “You are suggesting I am some kind of monster, a mass murderer who just poisons people regardless – this is not so.

“I suppose I’d ceased to see them as people, or more correctly, a part of me had. They became guinea pigs.”

Murder in a Teacup is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video now.

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