For many murderers of the past, poison was the weapon of choice, from cyanide (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 2–6; Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 12–13 and Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 2–4) to arsenic (see CHEMISTRY REVIEW, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 30–33). Did it fall out of fashion? Unfortunately not, although the cunning of the poisoner has been matched by a greater arsenal of forensic tools.
One famous story from 1978 is that of the Bulgarian Georgi Markov, who was murdered with the poison ricin. Markov had defected to the West and was living in London. A tiny metal pellet, impregnated with ricin, was hidden in a gasloaded umbrella and shot into the back of Markov’s leg in the street — seemingly just a stranger tripping and catching him by accident. His health rapidly deteriorated and he died 4 days later.
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