A Passion for Poison

A true crime story like no other, the extraordinary tale of the schoolboy teacup poisoner

Carol Ann Lee

• Publisher: John Blake
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789464320
• Year: 2021

The incredible crimes of Britain's most notorious schoolboy serial killer, Graham Young, as told by the bestselling and much-respected true crime author of The Murders at White House Farm.

There are few criminal cases more astonishing yet less well known than that of Graham Young. A quintessentially British crime story set in the post-war London suburbs, it involves two sensational trials, murders both certain and probable, a clutch of forgiving relatives, and scores of surviving victims.

Fourteen in the summer of 1962, Graham stood in the Old Bailey dock charged with poisoning a schoolfriend and family members by adding antimony to their packed lunches, Sunday roast and morning cups of tea. Diagnosed with multiple personality disorders, Graham's trial resulted in his detainment at Broadmoor, where he was the youngest patient.

But it was on his release from Broadmoor that Graham caused the greatest harm. Finding employment in Hadlands, a photographic supplies firm, his role as junior storeman meant he was expected to make tea and coffee for his colleagues. And very soon, numerous members of staff began experiencing crippling stomach pains...

A psychologically astute insight into the mind of a complex and intriguing individual, A Passion for Poison is true crime at its best.

Praise for Carol Ann Lee
Somebody's Mother, Somebody's Daughter: Victims and Survivors of the Yorkshire Ripper
'My book of the year... the first time the stories of the women who came into the sights of notorious serial killer Peter Sutcliffe have been told, and it gives voice to their families... deeply poignant' - Lynda La Plante

One of Your Own: The Life & Death of Myra Hindley
'Scrupulously unsensational and as good a biography of Hindley as we'll get' - Sunday Times

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Also by Carol Ann Lee
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: A Short History of Poison
• I: 6 July 1962 The Old Bailey
• II: 1947–1962 Neasden
• III: 1962–1971 Broadmoor
• IV: 1971–1972 Hadlands
• V: 1972–1990 Parkhurst
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgements
• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• Plates