Graham Young

Graham Frederick Young (7 September 1947 – 1 August 1990), also known as the Teacup Poisoner, was an English serial killer who murdered his victims with poison.

Obsessed with poisons from an early age, Young poisoned the food and drink of relatives and school friends. He was caught when his teacher became suspicious and contacted police. Young pleaded guilty to three non-fatal poisonings and, at age 14, was detained at Broadmoor Hospital. He later took responsibility for the death of his stepmother, though this has not been proven.

After being released in 1971, Young found a job in a factory in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, where he poisoned some of his colleagues, resulting in two deaths and several critical illnesses. He was convicted on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in 1972. Young served most of his life sentence at Parkhurst Prison, where he died of a heart attack in 1990.

Young's case made headlines in the United Kingdom and led to a public debate over the release of mentally ill offenders. Within hours of his conviction, the British government announced two inquiries into the issues his trial had raised. The Butler Committee led to widespread reforms in mental health services, while the passage of the Poisons Act 1972 put severe restrictions on the purchase of deadly poisons. Young's life story inspired the film ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook'' (1995). Provided by Wikipedia