Wednesday 18 September 2019 | UK News feed


The five deadly poisons that can be cooked up in a kitchen

Poison production implements seized from Bourgass's house
Image 1 of 2
Poison production implements seized from Bourgass's house 
Castor beans
Image 1 of 2
Castor beans used to make the poison ricin 

Experts from Porton Down, the chemical and biological defence establishment, gave evidence from behind screens during Kamel Bourgass's trial about the five poisons described in his recipes.

Ricin, the deadliest of the toxins derived from plant material, was used in London in 1978 to murder Georgi Markov, the Bulgarian dissident. He took seven days to die after an assassin fired a poison pellet into him, using an umbrella, outside Aldwych Tube station.

Ricin is derived from castor oil beans, some of which were found at the Wood Green flat. Ingested or inhaled as a fine dust, a dose of as little as 0.3 mg can be fatal. It affects the body's immune system so the victim suffers from infection that cannot be controlled and dies within days. The poison, which is tasteless and odourless, can be put in food and drink.

Bourgass's recipe involved putting the beans in a solvent to break down the oils and fats, filtering the mixture and allowing it to form a powder. It was perfectly viable, said an expert who tested it on laboratory mice.

So, too, was the recipe for potato poison which, although less toxic than ricin, is still deadly if ingested in sufficient quantity. The poison, made from potatoes, can be put in food and drink. It induces coma, convulsions and a shutdown of the lungs.

Nicotine poison can be ingested in food or drink or injected and causes death from lethal shock to the body, shutting down the brain, leading to coma and death. It, too, was a credible recipe.

Bourgass had three recipes for cyanide, including one used by the Nazis on concentration camp victims. All were viable. Used as a gas it has an immediate effect, causing respiratory paralysis and almost immediate death, particularly in confined spaces such as a room.

Cyanide can be extracted from a number of plants such as apples, plums, peaches and apricots through leaves and seeds. A process involving grinding the seeds and heating them followed by several refinements will produce cyanide. A Porton Down expert said he was unable to acquire the necessary 10,000 wild apricot kernels.

All the recipes could be made using basic equipment found at Wood Green, including a grinder, mortar and pestle, a bottle of acetone, castor beans and apple seeds, a funnel, blotting paper, thermometers and scales, the court heard.

Nigel Sweeney, QC, prosecuting, said the deadliest of all the five toxins, rotten meat poison, was, fortunately, the most difficult to make. It is produced from rotten meat and excrement and produces a botulinum toxin - "the most toxic substance known to man".

Botulinum toxin can be delivered in food or drink. Research has showed one gram can kill 80,000 people.

Explosives experts also confirmed to the court that instructions for bombs found at the flat were blueprints for viable devices.

Top news galleries


Back to top

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2019

Terms and Conditions

Today's News


Style Book

Weather Forecast