A man and a woman have been convicted of the first known murder in Britain using a poison known as
“devil’s breath”.
Adrian Murphy, 43, was found dead in his south London flat in June 2019 after being targeted by Joel Osei, 25, via the dating app
Grindr.
Murphy, a champion dancer, was given the poison – also known as scopolamine – in a soft drink by Osei. Afterwards Osei and his accomplice, Diana Cristea, 18, tried to buy more than £60,000 of valuables from a New York jeweller with Murphy’s credit card.
Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, told Croydon crown court the drug was known as “devil’s breath” in Colombia and was said to be “popular with robbers and rapists” to incapacitate their victims.
A second man, a 40-year-old from Walthamstow, east
London, was also targeted by the pair days earlier, but survived and helped police identify his attackers.
