The bulgarian umbrella murder
On September 7th, 1978 Georgi Markov stood waiting for a bus aat waterloo bridge in England, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right thigh. He turned to see a man with a rolled umbrella muttering an apology in an forgeign accent the man hailed a taxi and vanished. Soon after a pimple like swealing arrose on Markov's leg. That evening he was taking to a hospital with a high fever. Doctors watched helplessly as their patient lapsed into confused, excitable state, then he died. Their verdict: "Blood poisoning" caused by bacterial toxins (From microorganisms in the body) possibly a ressult of kidney failure.
Markov's death was suspicious he had peviously been forced to flee bulgaria because of his work as a reported critical of the commuist regime. He continued to work on this british television. He had told his wife about the encounter with the man and the umbrella. It did not take a genius to guess that the previous healthy 49 year old man had been murdered.
An autopsy was carried out on Markovs body. The pathologist suspected that he had been deliberatly poisoned, but could not find any clear evidence. A section of skina roud the pimple on his leg was removed and sent to chemical warfare research laboratory. Scientist found a tiny metal ball the size of a pin head, the ball was sent to scotland yard's forensic laboratory it ws examined by a scanning electron microscope, which uses an electron beam instead of a light in extraordinarily great detail.
The police decided Markov had been killed by a gas gun(a gun powered by a gas as well as gun powder) concealed in the umbrella which had driven the tiny ball into his leg. He had almost been certainly killed by a communist spy, on the orders of a bulgarian leadership, which wanted to put an end to his critisism. The cause of the death had been understood, but to this day the police have not tracked down the murdered.
Forensic Scientist skilled in toxicology assumed substance that killed Markov was a risin for the following reasons: The dose was very small, the simptoms matched those of known risin poison vitcims: weakness and fever followed by internal bleeding and vomiting and finally liver spleen and kidneys will stop working, will cause death. A pig injected with a similar tiny dose of risin, also died within 24hours, its internal organs showed the same damage seen in Markov's organs at his autopsy.
Markov's death was suspicious he had peviously been forced to flee bulgaria because of his work as a reported critical of the commuist regime. He continued to work on this british television. He had told his wife about the encounter with the man and the umbrella. It did not take a genius to guess that the previous healthy 49 year old man had been murdered.
An autopsy was carried out on Markovs body. The pathologist suspected that he had been deliberatly poisoned, but could not find any clear evidence. A section of skina roud the pimple on his leg was removed and sent to chemical warfare research laboratory. Scientist found a tiny metal ball the size of a pin head, the ball was sent to scotland yard's forensic laboratory it ws examined by a scanning electron microscope, which uses an electron beam instead of a light in extraordinarily great detail.
The police decided Markov had been killed by a gas gun(a gun powered by a gas as well as gun powder) concealed in the umbrella which had driven the tiny ball into his leg. He had almost been certainly killed by a communist spy, on the orders of a bulgarian leadership, which wanted to put an end to his critisism. The cause of the death had been understood, but to this day the police have not tracked down the murdered.
Forensic Scientist skilled in toxicology assumed substance that killed Markov was a risin for the following reasons: The dose was very small, the simptoms matched those of known risin poison vitcims: weakness and fever followed by internal bleeding and vomiting and finally liver spleen and kidneys will stop working, will cause death. A pig injected with a similar tiny dose of risin, also died within 24hours, its internal organs showed the same damage seen in Markov's organs at his autopsy.