Observations placeholder

Rat poison used for Murder - Mike Thompson, Matty Coe and Thomas Sloan
Rugby School, UK    Molecule of the Month July 2018

In Australia in the 1950s there were several thallium poisonings, so much so that they became known as Australia's "Thallium Craze". This is partly because at that time thallium sulfate was readily available over the counter as a rat poison.

Yvonne Fletcher - In one case,Yvonne Fletcher from Sydney killed two husbands using thallium. She nearly got away with the first murder, but suspicions were raised after it became obvious to friends that her second husband was dying and exhibiting the same symptoms that had killed her first husband. A police investigation found clear evidence of thallium in the remains of the first husband’s body, and this led to Yvonne’s being convicted for murder.

Ruby Norton - Soon after, grandmother Ruby Norton was tried, but later acquitted, for the murder of her daughter's fiancé Allen Williams, who had died of thallium poisoning.

Veronica Monty  - In a sensational trial in 1952, Veronica Monty was tried for the attempted murder using thallium of her son-in-law, well-known Australian rugby-league player Bob Lulham. The trial revealed that Lulham and Monty had had an "intimate relationship" while Lulham's wife was at Sunday mass. Neverthless, Monty was found not guilty, but she later killed herself, ironically using thallium, in 1955.

Beryl Hague  - In 1953 Sydney woman Beryl Hague was tried for "maliciously administering thallium and endangering her husband's life". She confessed to buying thallium sulfate rat poison (under the brand name of ‘Thall rat’) and putting it in her husband's tea. She said she wanted to "give him a headache to repay the many headaches he had given me" in past domestic violence.

Caroline Gills - And in the same year, Caroline Gills poisoned three members of her family and a friend. Once again the poison was difficult to detect because the thallium sulfate had been added to tea. She spent the rest of her life in jail, where the inmates dubbed her "Aunt Thally”